Wisest Man Quotes

• A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

  Bruce Lee

  Wise, Wisdom, Stupid

  Bruce Lee (2015). “Bruce Lee Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living”, p.98, Tuttle Publishing

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• You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

  Naguib Mahfouz

  Inspirational, Leadership, Wise

  FaceBook post by Naguib Mahfouz from Jul 12, 2011

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• I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

  Plato

  Im Sorry, Apology, Men

  Plato (2016). “The Republic”, Xist Publishing

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  The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

  Bertrand Russell

  Education, Confidence, Wisdom

  561 Copy quote

• A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

  Francis Bacon

  Inspirational, Success, Graduation

  1625 Essays, no.52,'Of Ceremonies and Respects'.

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• A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

  Roald Dahl

  Funny, Wisdom, Teacher

  Roald Dahl (2007). “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”, p.84, Penguin

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• Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

  Elbert Hubbard

  Wisdom, Witty, Clever

  Elbert Hubbard (1911). “A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard”

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• Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Inspirational, Life, Wisdom

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1838). “The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Preface. Formula fidei de ss. Trinitate. Nightly prayer. Notes on the book of common prayer; Hooker; Field; Donne; Henry More; Heinrichs; Hacket; Jeremy Taylor; The pilgrim's progress; John Smith. Letter to a godchild”, p.186

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• Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  29 Copy quote

• Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Education, Teaching, Knowledge

  'Lacon' (1820) vol. 1, no. 322

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• A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Inspirational, Funny, Wise

  45 Copy quote

• Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  28 Copy quote

• The reading of books, what is it but conversing with the wisest men of all ages and all countries.

  Isaac Barrow

  Country, Reading, Book

  Isaac Barrow, John Tillotson, Abraham Hill (1700). “The works of the learned Isaac Barrow ...”

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• Even the wisest men make fools of themselves about women, and even the most foolish women are wise about men

  Theodor Reik

  Relationship, Wise, Women

  Theodor Reik (1963). “The Need to be Loved”

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• Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves.

  Bertrand Russell

  Foolish Man, Thought Provoking, Make You Think

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• In private conversation between intimate friends, the wisest men very often talk like the weakest : for indeed the talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.

  Joseph Addison

  Friends, Men, Thinking

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index”, p.293

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• No man was ever wise by chance.

  Seneca the Younger

  Inspirational, Life, Wise

  "Epistolæ Ad Lucilium" by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus as reported in "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 878-82., 1922.

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  A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.

  David Hume

  Wise, Wisdom, Knowledge

  1748 An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section 10, pt.1.

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• We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wise, Wisdom, Smart

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book I, Ch. 25, 1595.

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• A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

  Grantland Rice

  Confidence, Wise, Wisdom

  310 Copy quote

• History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

  Abba Eban

  Funny, Sarcastic, War

  Speech in London, 16 Dec. 1970, in The Times 17 Dec. 1970

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• A knife of the keenest steel requires the whetstone, and the wisest man needs advice.

  Zoroaster

  Men, Knives, Advice

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• A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.

  Jonathan Swift

  Inspirational, Success, Wise

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “Works”, p.380

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

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Wise, Adversity

  William Shakespeare, Michael Hattaway (1993). “The Third Part of King Henry VI”, p.129, Cambridge University Press

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• The wisest man I have ever known once said to me: 'Nine out of every ten people improve on acquaintance,' and I have found his words true.

  Frank Arthur Swinnerton

  Men, People, Nine

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