Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
Full of wisdom are the ordinations of fate.
Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.
It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.
We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.
However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention.
Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.
It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.
Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.
The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.
There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.
Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.
Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
A man may learn wisdom even from a foe.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
There are three classes of men lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.
Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.
There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.
Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.
Wisdom is found only in truth.
Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.
Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.
However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.
They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom.
The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom to serve all, but love only one.
