Wisdom Whispers: Enlightening Quotes from Across the Ages

"A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell!"

Thomas Fuller, Clergyman

"Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course"

William Shakespeare, Dramatist

"Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed"

Edward Young, Poet

"He was a wise man who invented beer"

Plato, Philosopher

"Life's Tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late"

Benjamin Franklin, Politician

"No man was ever wise by chance"

Seneca, Philosopher

"For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human"

Plutarch, Philosopher

"A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own"

Latin Proverb

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook"

William James, Philosopher

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool"

William Shakespeare, Dramatist

"He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise"

George Herbert, Poet

"The fool wonders, the wise man asks"

Benjamin Disraeli, Statesman

"It's easier to be wise for others than for ourselves"

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Writer

"It is a wise father that knows his own child"

William Shakespeare, Dramatist

"By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself"

Menander, Poet

"Even a fool knows you can't touch the stars, but it won't keep the wise from trying"

Harry Anderson, Actor

"Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power"

Charles Caleb Colton, Writer

"Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know - and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance"

Isaac Asimov, Scientist

"Travel makes a wise man better, and a fool worse"

Thomas Fuller, Clergyman

"A wise man turns chance into good fortune"

Thomas Fuller, Clergyman

"A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men"

Plato, Philosopher

"Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way"

Seneca the Younger, Statesman

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally"

Niccolo Machiavelli, Writer

"Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins"

Thomas Aquinas, Theologian

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God"

George Washington, President

"A fool can throw a stone in a pond that 100 wise men can not get out"

Saul Bellow, Novelist

"Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor"

Sholom Aleichem, Writer

"No matter how long he lives, no man ever becomes as wise as the average woman of forty-eight"

H. L. Mencken, Writer

"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"

Voltaire, Writer

"Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise"

Francis Bacon, Philosopher

"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him"

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President

"He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks"

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Writer

"The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored"

Jean de la Bruyere, Philosopher

"Every wise, just, and mild government, by rendering the condition of its subjects easy and secure, will always abound most in people, as well as in commodities and riches"

David Hume, Philosopher