Being Wise Quotes

I remember being wise beyond my years when I was little. ~ Rebecca Ferguson

If you eat three times a day, you become fat. If you read three times a day, you become wise. It's better to be wise than fat. ~ Shimon Peres

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise. ~ Montesquieu

Wise people are able to give themselves gracefully to seemingly contradictory experiences, because they know that they belong to different seasons of life, all of which are necessary to the whole. Spring and winter, growth and decay, creativity and fallowness, health and sickness, power and impotence, and life and death all belong within the economy of being. ~ Sam Keen

Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise. ~ Heraclitus

I'm really close to my family, and we talk through things. My parents are so amazing, they're brilliant. We try to take one step at a time and be wise about the decisions we make and keep our values and the things that are important. ~ Naomi Scott

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Let him be wise, or let me be blind; don't let me, she hoped concretely, don't let me know too surely what he thinks of me. ~ Shirley Jackson

Nine tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Do not be wise in words - be wise in deeds. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Those who would administer wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. ~ Andrew Carnegie

For one word a man is often deemed to be wise, and for one word he is often deemed to be foolish. We should be careful indeed what we say. ~ Confucius

So I'm beginning to think that when I'm fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years old I still won't be any closer to being wise and knowledgeable. Perhaps people on their deathbeds, who have had long, long lives, seen it all, travelled the world, have had kids, been through their own personal traumas, beaten their demons and learned the harsh lessons of life will be thinking : God, people in heaven must really know it all. ~ Cecelia Ahern

The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook. ~ William James

That Wisedome is acquired, not by reading of Books, but of Men. Consequently whereunto, those persons, that for the most part can give no other proof of being wise, take great delight to shew what they think they have read in men, by uncharitable censures of one another behind their backs. ~ Thomas Hobbes

But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years. ~ Thomas Jefferson

It's better to be wise than to be smart. ~ Alan Alda

I have no interest in being safe. I do however, have every interest in being wise. The former is averse to going forward, while the latter is averse to anything but going forward. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

To be brave in misfortune is to be worthy of manhood; to be wise in misfortune is to conquer fate. ~ Agnes Repplier

There is no gown or garment that worse becomes a woman than when she will be wise. ~ Martin Luther

To live is to dream, and to dream pleasantly is to be wise. ~ Friedrich Schiller

Though we may be learned by another's knowledge, we can never be wise but by our own experience. ~ Michel De Montaigne

It is not much good being wise among fools and sane among lunatics. ~ Robert Greene

Youth might be wise; we suffer less from pains than pleasures. ~ Philip James Bailey

I don't care what they say, we are only to love those who deserve our love and love them to the degree that they deserve it! You see, we are not God. Only God can love people undeserving without spoiling them. Us, on the other hand, can love someone so undeserving, and actually turn the person into someone so vile who is convinced that they were always entitled to every bit of it! Mamma mia! And what about giving? Yes, they all want us to give and expect nothing in return, they all have many scriptures to lay on our tables when it is they who are at the receiving end! But when the tables are turned and we are the ones at the receiving end, suddenly all the scriptures mean something else! And all the times they were on our end and we gave to them- suddenly are all forgotten! ~ C. JoyBell C.

Be wise today; 'tis madness to defer. Next day the fatal precedent will plead; thus on, til wisdom is pushed our of life. ~ Edward Young

It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. ~ George R R Martin

Perhaps one would be wise when young even to avoid thinking of oneself as a writer - for there's something a little stopped and satisfied, too healthy, in that. Better to think of writing, of what one does as an activity, rather than an identity - to write, I write; we write; to keep the calling a verb rather than a noun; to keep working at the thing, at all hours, in all places, so that your life does not become a pose, a pornography of wishing. ~ Lorrie Moore

If the infinite had not desired man to be wise, he would not have bestowed upon him the faculty of knowing. ~ Manly P. Hall

When Vanity kissed Vanity, a hundred happy Junes ago, he pondered o'er her breathlessly, and, that all men might ever know, he rhymed her eyes with life and death:
"Thru Time I'll save my love!" he said ... yet Beauty vanished with his breath, and, with her lovers, she was dead ...
-Ever his wit and not her eyes, ever his art and not her hair:
"Who'd learn a trick in rhyme, be wise and pause before his sonnet there" ... So all my words, however true, might sing you to a thousandth June, and no one ever know that you were Beauty for an afternoon. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald

We can be wise from goodness and good from wisdom. ~ Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Don't be afraid to be weird for being wise. ~ Craig Groeschel

It's NOT called "QUITTING" or "GIVING UP" when making a sound and logical decision based on extenuating circumstances.

It's called being wise, smart and making the right choice. ~ Tanya Masse

You can get stuck in being wise. You can get stuck in having a developed will. It is very hard to get stuck in being happy. It is too lucid a state of mind. ~ Frederick Lenz

It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize, And to be swift is less than to be wise. ~ Homer

There is no effort in collecting judgements. Being wise with them requires a act of true character. ~ Joel Kirkpatrick

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people? ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Sometimes we find ourselves fighting tooth and nail for something we think we want, when, in reality, what we really want comes not from giving up, but from being wise enough to choose which battles are worth fighting. ~ Samantha Hartley

Make the most of prayer ... Prayer is the master-weapon. We should be wise if we used it more, and did so with a more specific purpose. ~ Charles Spurgeon

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise. ~ Solomon

It is never too late to be wise. ~ Daniel Defoe

Be someone who genuinely seeks to understand, and you will be wise. Be someone kind, someone considerate, and you will be admired. Be someone who values truth, and you will be respected. Be someone who takes action, and you will move life forward. ~ Ralph Marston

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise
as priests, prophets or philosophers are wise. Specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine. ~ Allan Bloom

Work for god, love god alone, and be wise with god. When an ordinary man puts the necessary rime and enthusiasm into meditation and prayer, he becomes a divine man. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

The key to all aristeia and wisdom and gnosis is a seed that conformist and mediocritist and democratist Americans haven't got even a scintilla of a prospect of nourishing, and that is sapere aude: DARE TO BE WISE. ~ Kenny Smith

We think it would be wise in you to try to git [sic] influence by offering to print a paper in favor of the government as you know we are all friends to the Constitution yea true friends to that Country for which our fathers bled. ~ Joseph Smith Jr.

Talent is so loaded a word, so full to the brim with meanings, that an artist might be wise to forget about it altogether and just keep on working. ~ Eric Maisel

It is safe to look within. As I move through the layers of other people's opinions and beliefs, I see within myself a magnificent being, wise and beautiful. I love what I see in me. ~ Louise Hay

Letter to the tech giants:

When fame and abundance kiss somebody's feet before that person is wise enough, he or she is very likely to lose track of what's necessity and what's luxury. And modern society is filled with examples of such intelligent stupidity – stupidity that is carried out by apparently smart humans. Because being smart is not the same as being wise. The world has enough smartness, but not enough wisdom to bring that smartness into proper productive practice – and I mean productive practice not sophisticated practice – there is a difference. A person smart enough to visualize a Falcon rocket engine can easily pinpoint the locations of various organizations that spread terrorism, yet the person chooses to explore the space further instead of prioritizing the technological advantages to first fix real issues of the human society that inflict harm to the humans every walk of the way.
The world is a miserable place not because we have lack of resources, but because those who have an abundance of resources do not have the slightest idea of true human need. The resources needed for colonizing Mars if put to proper practice can fix the world's global warming issues – it can fix the world's climate change issues – it can fix the world's terrorism issues, yet people are more interested in the pompous idea of living in Mars for whatever reason, instead of paying attention to improving human condition on earth. I am not against technological advancement, ~ Abhijit Naskar

A god could hardly love and be wise. ~ Publilius Syrus

Being, be bold and venture to be wise. ~ Horace

Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed. ~ Edward Young

These days people don't search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise families and look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise! ~ Ajahn Chah

O be wise, what can I say more? ~ Jacob

Now that we are, as you say, 'in the same boat,' would it not be wise for us to have another conference ... and the sooner the better. ~ Winston Churchill

To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know? ~ Socrates

Saying No is not being a coward
its a word of being wise ~ Angel Of Death

Do you not know ... that a child badly taught is farther from being wise than one not taught at all? ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

William James, the father of research psychology in the United States, said "The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." Knowing what to overlook is one way that older adults are typically wiser than young adults. With age comes what is known as a positivity effect. We become more interested in positive information, and our brains react less strongly to what negative information we do encounter. We disengage with interpersonal conflict, choosing to let it be, especially when those in our network are involved. ~ Meg Jay

The men upon whose shoulders rested the initial responsibility of Christianizing the world came to Jesus with one supreme request. They did not say, "Lord, teach us to preach"; "Lord, teach us to do miracles"; or "Lord, teach us to be wise" ... but they said, "Lord, teach us to pray. ~ Billy Graham

In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential. ~ Richard G. Scott

We may admire people for being wise, but we like them best when they are foolish. ~ Mary Russell Mitford

Total commitment is about being wise and smart, not necessarily being noble or virtuous. It's not so much about self-denial but about logic and common sense. It's not so much about what you lose; it's about what you gain. ~ Chip Ingram

We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to discipline ourselves a little; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little emotional vice, from time to time. It may be hard for us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the appearance we thus present. But what of that! We no longer have any other mode of self-overcoming available to us: this is our asceticism, our penance. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It is a queer thing. In a time of great need, when powerful leadership is demanded, the people - confused and excited - hear only the strident voices of the audacious, and refuse to listen to the voice of wisdom which, being wise, is temperate. ~ Lloyd C. Douglas

If thy desire to raise thy fortunes encourage thy delights to the casts of fortune, be wise betimes, lest thou repent too late; what thou gettest, thou gainest by abused providence; what thou losest, thou losest by abused patience; what thou winnest is prodigally spent; what thou losest is prodigally lost; it is an evil trade that prodigally drives; and a bad voyage where the pilot is blind. ~ Francis Quarles

Sense of our own folly is a great step towards being wise, when it leads us to rely on the wisdom of the Lord. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Lucky are you, reader, if you happen not to be of that sex to whom it is forbidden all good things; to whom liberty is denied; to whom almost all virtues are denied; lucky are you if you are one of those who can be wise without its being a crime. ~ Marie De Gournay

I really do believe that the basic principle that Americans have the right to know what they're buying when they buy it is going to be something that spreads across this country very quickly, and that the food manufacturers would be wise to be leaders instead of trying to block this with lawsuits and other ways of trying to get their way. ~ Peter Shumlin

Be wise; let prudence dictate all your counsels; preserve peace with all men, if possible; stand by the Constitution of your country; observe its principles; and above all, show yourselves men of God, worthy citizens. ~ Joseph Smith Jr.

It is written, 'Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Mt. 10:16). Being like serpents means not ignoring the attacks and wiles of the devil. Like is quickly shown to like. The simplicity of the dove denotes purity of action. ~ Syncletica Of Alexandria

There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors. ~ Walter Raleigh

To be wise doesn't always mean to have a wrinkled face and sparkly eyes. To be wise means to be still inside. ~ Frederick Lenz

How do people choose their final words? Do they realize their gravity? Are they fated to be wise? ~ Mitch Albom

There are some persons in this world, who, unable to give better proof of being wise, take a strange delight in showing what they think they have sagaciously read in mankind by uncharitable suspicions of them. ~ Herman Melville

Being smart takes patience. Being wise takes pain. Being apathetic takes practice. Being in love takes everything ... away. ~ Dave Matthes

You are creating through your choices, even now. Choose wisely. ~ Bryant McGill

I need the money, people are very coy about money, and the ladies arent just coy, they are sci fi about money ...
... people ask, well, dont sweet things happen? yes, indeed, many sweet things, but sweet doesnt keep you from dying, making love doesnt keep you from dying unless you get paid, writing doesnt keep you from dying unless you get paid, being wise doesnt keep you from dying unless you get paid, facts are facts, being poor makes you face facts which also does not keep you from dying. ~ Andrea Dworkin

Be wise to-day; 't is madness to defer. ~ Edward Young

Who can be wise, amazed, temp'rate, and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man. ~ William Shakespeare

Be wise; soar not too high to fall; but stoop to rise. ~ Philip Massinger

Whose work is it but your own to open your eyes? But indeed the business of the universe is to make such a fool out of you that you will know yourself for one, and begin to be wise. ~ George MacDonald

Even a God finds it hard to love and be wise at the same time. ~ Tina Smith

. . . Beware of being wise above that which is written. Beware of forming fanciful theories of your own, and then trying to make the Bible square with them. Beware of making selections from your Bible to suit your taste. Dare not to say, 'I believe this verse, for I like it. I refuse that, for I cannot reconcile it with my views.' Nay! but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? By what right do you talk in this way? Surely it were better to say, over every chapter in the word, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' Ah! if men would do this, they would never deny the unquenchable fire. ~ J.C. Ryle

If there is one thing the psychic taught me, it's that people and events are rarely who and what we think they are. They are more meaningful, more worth our attention-part of some finely choreographed, eternal dance that we would be wise to bow down before in gratitude and humility. ~ Leslie Morgan Steiner

Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius Tyaneus represents the latter as informing King Phraotes that the Oneiropolists, or Interpreters of Visions, are wont never to interpret any vision till they have first enquired the time at which it befell; for, if it were early, and of the morning sleep, they then thought that they might make a good interpretation thereof ... in that the soul was then fitted for divination, and disincumbered. But if in the first sleep, or near midnight, while the soul was as yet clouded and drowned in libations, they, being wise, refused to give any interpretation. ~ Anna Kingsford

Time can but make it easier to be wise / Though now it seems impossible, and so / All that you need is patience. ~ William Butler Yeats

He told me not to seek revenge, but to seek the Buddha,' said the fox spirit, sadly.
'Wise counsel,' said the fox of dreams. 'Vegeance can be a road that has no ending. You would be wise to avoid it. And ... ?'
'I shall seek the Buddha,' said the fox, with a toss of her head. 'But first I shall seek revenge. ~ Neil Gaiman

Choosing the best option might show our smartness but Choosing the Right option would show our Goodness.,
There, indeed, is a difference between being WISE and being NICE, and
its now, it's our turn to decide-
if it is smart enough to choose a right cup..! &
If it is wise, being nice..! ~ Ajay Chandan

If I ever acquire wisdom, I suppose I'll be wise enough to know what to do with it. ~ Lamar Trotti

There's no greater sign of being a poor philosopher and wise man than wanting all of life to be wise and philosophical. ~ Giacomo Leopardi

The wise man must be wise before, not after, the event. ~ Epicharmus Of Kos

If you sat down and you wrote a script, you may write something that's way beyond what you've ever seen me do, but if you thought of me to do it, I would be flattered to be asked to do something other than be wise. ~ Morgan Freeman

Sapere aude. Dare to be wise. ~ Horace

Let men be wise by instinct if they can, but when this fails be wise by good advice. ~ Sophocles

I used to think there would be a blinding flash of light someday, and then I would be wise and calm and would know how to cope with everything and my kids would rise up and call me blessed. Now I see that whatever I'm like, I'm pretty well stuck with it for life. Hell of a revelation that turned out to be. ~ Margaret Laurence

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.
[Writer's Digest, September 1961] ~ Harper Lee

Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying "yes" begins things. Saying "yes" is how things grow. Saying "yes" leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes'. ~ Stephen Colbert

We may simply not be wise enough to do some of the kinds of engineering things that people are talking about doing. ~ Leon Kass

The mathematician who is without value to mathematicians, the thinker who is obscure or meaningless to thinkers, the dramatist who fails to move the pit, may be wise, may be eminent, but as an author he has failed. ~ George Henry Lewes