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

A
"I maintained a rigid position on that subject until the facts showed I was wrong."
Atticus Finch
M
"There are just some kind of men who—who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one."
Miss Maudie Atkinson
S
"Atticus said that Jem was having a difficult time these days, and that it was all right to be depressed and blue sometimes—you were supposed to have an adjusting period."
Scout Finch
Y
"Insanity is contagious."
Yossarian
D
"The heart has its own logic which reason knows nothing of"
Dmitri Karamazov
D
"To understand a man, one must understand his greatest fear"
Dmitri Karamazov
I
"No problem can be solved by the same level of thinking that created it"
Ivan Karamazov
D
"The heart knows truths that the mind cannot comprehend"
Dmitri Karamazov
O
"Acceptance of reality is the first step to survival."
O'Brien
G
"To get rid of an enemy one must first understand him."
General Kutuzov
B
"I learned you can't fight the system with anger alone."
Billy Bibbit
C
"The real sickness is believing you deserve to be here."
Cheswick
C
"Every man here believes his own story."
Cheswick
D
"You're insane."
Doc Daneeka
D
"The heart has its own wisdom"
Dmitri Karamazov
I
"The greatest wisdom is knowing oneself"
Ivan Karamazov
E
"You know what I wish?"
Eliot Rosewater
T
"That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do"
Tralfamadorian
P
"Suffering is the only way to wisdom and truth."
Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
R
"That's the funny thing, a good man stops trying."
Randle McMurphy
R
"I'm the only one in here who ain't crazy, and that's the problem."
Randle McMurphy
I
"Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness"
Ivan Karamazov
D
"The heart has its own logic that reason cannot comprehend"
Dmitri Karamazov
D
"The heart knows truths that the mind will never grasp"
Dmitri Karamazov
Y
"The only way to survive is to think like a madman."
Yossarian
C
"Being crazy isn't about how you act. It's about what you do."
Chief Bromden
J
"Virtue has a face and a voice; it is called mercy."
Jean Valjean
J
"The soul yearns for redemption long after the world has condemned it."
Jean Valjean
P
"Force is the rule of beasts; reason should govern men."
Pierre Bezukhov
P
"No one is as wise as we would like to be."
Prince Andrei Bolkonsky