Wisdom Quotes

The best minds across centuries have wrestled with what it means to be wise. These quotes capture their hard-won insights.

64329 quotes

L
"Every failure is merely a lesson in disguise for the attentive mind."
Luís de Camões
"The greatest challenge in life is to know oneself truly and completely."
Torquato Tasso
"The test of character is how we behave when no one is watching."
Torquato Tasso
"The heart knows truths that the mind cannot comprehend."
Torquato Tasso
A
"The heart knows reasons that reason itself cannot understand."
Almeida Garrett
A
"Wisdom is knowing what to do; virtue is doing it despite the cost."
Almeida Garrett
E
"The world is full of people who understand life but do nothing with that understanding."
Eça de Queirós
E
"Wisdom begins when we stop pretending to have answers."
Eça de Queirós
A
"Wisdom is not the accumulation of facts, but the understanding of their meaning."
Alexandre Herculano
A
"The legacy we leave is measured not in wealth, but in wisdom."
Alexandre Herculano
F
"To be great, be whole; exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"What we call madness is the inability to exchange ideas."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"To know oneself is to accept oneself."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"What matters is the meaning we give to things."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"To suffer is to understand."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"I see everything and understand nothing."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"The greatest discovery of all is the discovery of oneself."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"The world is what we make it with our thoughts."
Fernando Pessoa
F
"To know thyself is to know the universe."
Fernando Pessoa
J
"We spend our lives chasing shadows, forgetting the substance behind them."
José María de Eça de Queirós
J
"The wise man knows the limitations of his own wisdom."
José María de Eça de Queirós
J
"Wisdom comes from experience."
John Banville
J
"Suffering ennobles the spirit."
John Banville
J
"The heart knows what the mind cannot grasp."
John Banville
E
"Suffering is the price we pay for consciousness."
Eça de Queirós
S
"If you want to see the invisible, you must learn to look beyond the visible."
Saramago
S
"What we call progress is often just a more sophisticated form of the same old mistakes."
Saramago
S
"To understand yourself is to understand the universe, and vice versa."
Saramago
S
"The heart knows truths the mind cannot articulate."
Saramago