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
"Better to go back than go astray."
Aesop
A
"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
Aesop
A
"The truly wise are not afraid to admit their ignorance."
Aesop
L
"All things arise from necessity."
Leucippus
L
"From nothing, nothing can arise."
Leucippus
L
"Sensory perception alone is insufficient for understanding truth."
Leucippus
L
"The invisible rules the visible."
Leucippus
L
"Necessity governs the dance of atoms."
Leucippus
L
"Reason reveals what the senses conceal."
Leucippus
L
"The invisible foundation supports all visible reality."
Leucippus
L
"Appearances deceive; atoms reveal truth."
Leucippus
L
"Reason can discover the atomic basis of reality."
Leucippus
L
"All wisdom begins with understanding the atomic basis of nature."
Leucippus
L
"Necessity is the fundamental principle of nature."
Leucippus
L
"The atomic universe is intelligible and knowable."
Leucippus
T
"He will therefore find it advantageous to listen patiently to the proposals of those who think they have discovered a more expedient course."
Thucydides
T
"The individual who has not suffered cannot become truly wise."
Thucydides
T
"The greatest evils are not born from great vices but from excessive virtue pursued without wisdom."
Thucydides
T
"Beauty fades, but wisdom endures."
Thucydides
T
"The greatest victories are won not with swords but with words."
Thucydides
T
"A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water moulds itself to a pitcher."
Thucydides
H
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
Herodotus
H
"It is the quality of our thoughts that determines the quality of our lives."
Herodotus
H
"A prosperous fool is a grievous burden to himself and his country."
Herodotus
H
"The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
Herodotus
H
"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."
Herodotus
H
"Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish."
Herodotus
H
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
Herodotus
S
"The heart knows secrets that the mind cannot understand."
Sappho
S
"The truest education comes from the heart's lessons, not the scroll's words."
Sappho