Quotes on Wisdom

In man, the things which are not measurable are more important than those which are measurable.

My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.

A great memory is never made synonymous with wisdom, any more than a dictionary would be called a treatise.

Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.

O Beloved of Hearts, I beseech only You. Have pity this day on those who turn to You. My Hope, my Rest, my Delight, this heart can love none other but You.

One of the most obvious facts about grownups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child.

That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another.

We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it.

We thank Him less by words than by the serene happiness of silent acceptance. It is our emptiness in the presence of His reality, our silence in the presence of His infinitely rich silence, our joy in the bosom of the serene darkness in which His light holds us absorbed, it is all this that praises Him.

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

The mentor can be identified by four things: by restraining you from wrongdoing, guiding you towards good actions, telling you what you ought to know, and showing you the path to heaven.

The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.

Philosophy should always know that indifference is a militant thing. It batters down the walls of cities and murders the women and children amid the flames and the purloining of altar vessels. When it goes away it leaves smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayonetted through the throat. It is not a children's pastime like mere highway robbery.

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.

A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.

It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.

Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom.

To know that you are neither the body nor mind, watch yourself steadily and live unaffected by your body and mind, completely aloof, as if you were dead. It means you have no vested interests, either in the body or in the mind.

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.