Quotes about Wisdom

Everything that occurs in our confused mind we can regard as the path.

The eye of the poet sees less clearly, but sees farther than the eye of the scientist.

God gives us not only the truth but also the ability to believe it; not only the new thing to see but also the new eye to see it with.

It is closer to the truth to say that God is crazy than that God is reasonable. I suspect God merely smiles when someone calls him crazy, but shakes His head and frowns when someone calls Him reasonable.

An open mind is not an end in itself but a means to the end of finding truth.

Stand in the divine rain, and seeds of wisdom will grow in your soul.

Go back to Socrates: Know thyself. For Socrates, there are only two kinds of people: the wise, who know they are fools; and fools, who think they are wise. Similarly, for Christ and all the prophets, there are only two kinds of people: saints, who know they are sinners; and sinners, who think they are saints. Which are you?

Haven't you forgotten the first and most important lesson in all of philosophy, the lesson taught to all of us by Socrates, the father of philosophy? That you are wise only when you are humble, that the very first bit of wisdom and the prerequisite for all others is the realization that we are not wise

If we seek the truth without realizing how far we are from it, we will be dogmatists. If we realize how far we are from the truth but do not seek it, we will be skeptics. If we both seek the truth and realize how far we are from it, we will be wise.

The true philosopher lives his life as a dress rehearsal for death.

Socrates: "Know thyself." For Socrates, there are only two kinds of people: the wise, who know they are fools; and fools, who think they are wise. Similarly, for Christ and all the prophets, there are only two kinds of people: saints, who know they are sinners; and sinners, who think they are saints.

St. Thomas is as practical and plain and reasonable in ethics as Aristotle, or Confucius, or your uncle.