Wit & Attitude Quote by Abai Qunanbaiuly

Wisdom, Abai suggests, is less a trophy of intelligence than a discipline of attention. The line turns on a neat inversion: the “wise” person is defined not by what they know, but by their willingness to be taught by anyone; the “foolish” person is exposed by an urge to instruct everyone. It’s a moral diagnostic disguised as a simple aphorism, and its sting is aimed at ego, not ignorance.

The subtext is social. In a hierarchical culture where age, status, and pedigree often decide who gets to speak, Abai elevates humility into a kind of quiet rebellion. Learning “from everyone” implies that insight can come from the poor, the young, the marginalized, even the rival clan. Teaching “everyone”, by contrast, isn’t generosity; it’s domination - turning conversation into a one-way transaction where the teacher’s identity matters more than the truth. The foolish person doesn’t actually educate; they perform authority.

Context sharpens the intent. Writing in the Kazakh steppe under the pressures of Russian imperial administration and rapid cultural change, Abai spent his career critiquing complacency, factionalism, and hollow prestige. This maxim reads like a response to a society negotiating modernity: when old certainties wobble, the reflex is to preach harder. Abai flips that reflex. The survival skill, he implies, is intellectual hospitality - the ability to listen across class lines and cultural shifts without losing your standards. It’s advice that lands today because it treats curiosity as ethics, and conversation as a test of character.