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

I
"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness."
Ivan Karamazov
I
"Doubt is the beginning of wisdom, not its end."
Ivan Karamazov
A
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."
Atticus Finch
M
"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
Miss Maudie Atkinson
A
"We're making a much bigger thing out of this than we should."
Atticus Finch
E
"Illusions are the only realities."
Emma Bovary
G
"Words are such unsatisfactory things."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"What is passion but a collection of delusions?"
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"Boredom is the worst of all afflictions."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"The heart is a mystery that reason cannot solve."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"Duty had never been her strong point."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
E
"What good is virtue when one is suffering?"
Emma Bovary
G
"Her mistakes were the price of her illusions."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"The heart desires what the mind cannot understand."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
P
"Why do we struggle, why do we suffer?"
Pierre Bezukhov
P
"What will happen when I lose consciousness of myself?"
Pierre Bezukhov
I
"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness"
Ivan Karamazov
A
"I want to understand it all, to forgive everyone for everything"
Alexei (Alyosha) Karamazov
N
"Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope."
Nick Carraway
N
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
Nick Carraway
N
"I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me."
Nick Carraway
N
"The barkeeper's instinct must have told him that he was dealing with that sort of confidence man."
Nick Carraway
N
"I knew the world's a hard place."
Nick Carraway
D
"I hope she'll be a fool — that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."
Daisy Buchanan
N
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
Nick Carraway
J
"An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise."
Jean Valjean
E
"Every closed eye is not sleeping."
Eponine
G
"One should not touch one's idols; the gilt comes off in your hands."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)
G
"Life teaches us through suffering."
Gustave Flaubert (Narrator)