Wisdom

Folly pursues us throughout our lives, and the man whom we call wise is he whose follies are proportionate to his age and to his fortune.

The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine.

If we wise people make eminent fools of ourselves on any particular occasion, we must endure the legitimate conclusion that we carry a few grains of folly to our ounce of wisdom.

Profit from folly rather than participate in it.

The folly of one man is the fortune of another; for no man prospers so suddenly as by others’ errors.

As you get older, you find that often the wheat, disentangling itself from the chaff, comes out to meet you.

Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.

Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth.

If a man will kick a fact out of the window, when he comes back he finds it again in the chimney corner.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot-stove lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.

A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences (deeds and misdeeds) just as he digests his meats, even when he has some tough morsels to swallow.

One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.

Experience has two things to teach: the first, that we must correct a great deal; the second, that we must not correct too much.

It is an easy thing for one whose foot Is on the outside of calamity to give advice.

Modest doubt is call’d the beacon of the wise.

I know perfectly well the cynic is a coward. He foresees all barrenness so that barrenness can never surprise him.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

The years teach much which the days never know.

Dear authors! Suit your topics to your strength, And ponder well your subject, and its length; Nor lift your load, before you’re quite aware What weight your shoulders will, or will not, bear.

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.

It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us.

Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.

The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper.