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

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"The world reveals itself only to those who approach it with genuine curiosity."
Boris Pasternak
B
"The true test of maturity is how we handle disagreement with those we love."
Boris Pasternak
A
"Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world, but in the process loses his soul."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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"Evil people do not really understand that the world is cruel and full of suffering."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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"We have been accustomed for too long to dismiss the things that really matter as mere sentimentality."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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"We celebrate the wrong values, then wonder why our civilization crumbles."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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"We must learn to prize the invisible more than the visible."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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"In the war between comfort and truth, many choose comfort and call it wisdom."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A
"I have taught myself to live simply and wisely, to look at the sky and pray to God, and to wander long before evening."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"The world has a way of teaching us lessons through quiet despair."
Anna Akhmatova
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"I learned that suffering makes the heart larger and more generous."
Anna Akhmatova
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"I have learned to distinguish between love and its illusions."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"Our pain is the price of having felt anything at all."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"The heart knows truths that reason cannot comprehend."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"I have taught myself indifference as a form of survival."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"What we leave unspoken defines us as much as what we say."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"To understand love, one must first understand its absence."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"The heart breaks so that it might grow larger."
Anna Akhmatova
A
"Everything precious in life requires sacrifice."
Anna Akhmatova
"The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of."
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
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"Wisdom consists not in knowing great things, but in knowing what is best."
Maxim Gorky
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"The mind is our greatest treasure."
Maxim Gorky
M
"Wisdom whispers; folly shouts."
Maxim Gorky
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"I have often noticed that these happy people are always led to mistaken conclusions."
Vladimir Nabokov
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"Despair is the price of self-awareness."
Vladimir Nabokov
V
"All of life's mysteries hide in the spaces between words."
Vladimir Nabokov
A
"One can never be too careful in the selection of one's enemies."
August Strindberg
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"Suffering is the price we pay for consciousness."
August Strindberg
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"The mind is like water; when it is still, it is clear and reflective."
August Strindberg
A
"Every person we meet is a teacher, if we are willing to listen."
August Strindberg