Everyone recognizes a distinction between knowledge and wisdom. . . Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values. Since these cannot be separated from the human organism and the social scene, the moral ways of man cannot be understood without knowledge of the ways of things and institutions.
Interpretation
Wisdom is a deeper understanding of knowledge, particularly in relation to human values and societal contexts.
This quote by Sidney Hook emphasizes the essential difference between knowledge and wisdom, suggesting that while knowledge is important, wisdom encompasses a deeper understanding that includes the nature of human values and the impact of social institutions. Wisdom is therefore portrayed as not just an accumulation of facts, but a comprehensive understanding of how these facts interact with human life and societal structures.
In practice
During a workshop on personal development, one could reference this quote to illustrate the importance of understanding human values.
A liberal education will impart an awareness of the amazing and precious complexity of human relationships. Since those relationships are violated more often out of insensitiveness than out of deliberate intent, whatever increases sensitiveness of perception and understanding humanizes life.
In contrast to totalitarianism, democracy can face and live with the truth about itself.
Tolerance always has limits - it cannot tolerate what is itself actively intolerant.
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness.
The easiest rationalization for the refusal to seek the truth is the denial that truth exists.
The mob that hails the man on horseback, the Caesars and conquering heroes, does not retain its freedoms for long.
When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.
We have discharged one generation of debtors after another, but we do not find that their numbers lessen. We find only that we forget, when times are good, that times were ever bad.
There are two kinds of worries - those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter.
Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
I was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds and sheltered by the trees as other Indian babes. I was living peaceably when people began to speak bad of me. Now I can eat well, sleep well and be glad. I can go everywhere with a good feeling.
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