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

J
"A master says not 'I have never found'; a master says 'I have not sought.'"
Johann Goethe
J
"The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it."
Johann Goethe
J
"To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution."
Johann Goethe
J
"We learn geology the morning after the earthquake."
Johann Goethe
G
"Style is the man himself."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"An important art of life is to learn what to overlook."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"All knowledge begins with wonder."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"The basis of all virtue is good sense."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"To know one's self is to know all humanity."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"Man can know very little and yet live well if he lives righteously."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"In order to understand the world, one must not be too eager to judge it."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"To understand the principle of things is to hold the secret to all transformation."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"To speak is to be partly right; to stay silent is to avoid being wrong."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
G
"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
C
"In God's creation there is no chaos, only order we have yet to understand."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"The universe speaks to those who listen carefully."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"Order brings clarity to the natural world."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"Order is heaven's first law and nature's foundation."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"To understand nature is to understand ourselves."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"The path to wisdom begins with wonder."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"Nature teaches us that unity underlies diversity."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"True wisdom comes from humble observation."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"To know one creature well is to know something about all."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"In understanding one system, we glimpse universal principles."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"Order and diversity dance together in nature's grand ballet."
Carl Linnaeus
C
"The mind, like the body, requires exercise."
Claude Adrien Helvetius
C
"In the school of the world, experience is the greatest teacher."
Claude Adrien Helvetius
C
"True wisdom lies in knowing what we do not know."
Claude Adrien Helvetius
C
"The mind is a universe unto itself."
Claude Adrien Helvetius
C
"The greatest gift is the gift of understanding."
Claude Adrien Helvetius