Your talk," I said, "is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand.
Interpretation
The speaker acknowledges the complexity of the talk, attributing it to wisdom due to its incomprehensibility.
This quote reflects the idea that true wisdom may often be difficult to understand or grasp fully. The speaker humorously suggests that the profound nature of the discussion is indicative of its wisdom, as it overwhelms with complexity rather than clarity. It highlights the paradox that sometimes, what is deemed wise is not easily interpretable, inviting a deeper reflection on the nature of knowledge and understanding.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion on the nature of wisdom at a philosophical gathering.
After a time," said old Mathers disregarding me, "I mercifully perceived the errors of my ways and the unhappy destination I would reach unless I mended them. I retired from the world in order to try to comprehend it and to find out why it becomes more unsavoury as the years accumulate on a man's body. What do you think I discovered at the end of my meditations?" I felt pleased again. He was now questioning me. "What?" "That No is a better word than Yes," he replied.
When things go wrong and will not come right, Though you do the best you can, When life looks black as the hour of night, A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
Past humanity is not only implicit in each new man born but is contained in him. Humanity is an ever-widening spiral and life is the beam that plays briefly on each succeeding ring. All humanity from its beginning to its end is already present but the beam has not yet played beyond you.
I saw that my witticism was unperceived and quietly replaced it in the treasury of my mind.
The continual cracking of your feet on the road makes a certain quantity of road come up into you. When a man dies they say he returns to clay but too much walking fills you up with clay far sooner (or buries bits of you along the road) and brings your death half-way to meet you. It is not easy to know what is the best way to move yourself from one place to another.
Strange enlightenments are vouchsafed to those who seek the higher places.
I don't go in for being sorry for people. For one thing it's insulting. One is only sorry for people when they're sorry for themselves. Self-pity is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the world today.
Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.
The sure way of knowing nothing about life is to try to make oneself useful.
A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes.
Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none, although they give occasion.
Instead of assuming that emotional intelligence is always useful, we need to think more carefully about where and when it matters.
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