The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

The more one pleases everybody, the less one pleases profoundly.

There is something about a mortarboard that gives otherwise sane and normal people the overwhelming urge to burden you with advice. Some of them cannot help themselves. They were asked to do it by a committee. But one can only take so many pieces of wisdom before they all start to blur together.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Once you label me you negate me.

The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when it be obeyed.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

Start wide, expand further, and never look back.

As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.

Influential people are never satisfied with the status quo. They're the ones who constantly ask, 'What if?' and 'Why not?' They're not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom, and they don't disrupt things for the sake of being disruptive; they do it to make things better.

We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.

In my life, I was always floating around the edge of the dark side and saying what if take it a little bit too far, and who says you have to stop there, and what's behind the next door. Maybe you gain a wisdom from examining those things. But after a while, you get too far down in the quicksand.

I think it's nice to age gracefully. OK, you lose the youth, a certain stamina and dewy glow, but what you gain on the inside as a human being is wonderful: the wisdom, the acceptance and the peace of mind. It's a fair exchange.

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.

We all grow up. Hopefully, we get wiser. Age brings wisdom, and fatherhood changes one's life completely.

Meditation is the soul's perspective glass.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world - a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

An owl is traditionally a symbol of wisdom, so we are neither doves nor hawks but owls, and we are vigilant when others are resting.

Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed.

People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut, that held its ground.

Every silver lining has a cloud.

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.

Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.

In life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by.

The fall of dropping water wears away the Stone.

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.

Many sophisticated, intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense.

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.

Leave no stone unturned.

When you're young, you wonder what all these old people are droning on about, trying to impart their wisdom. It's not relevant to you because being young is such a specific thing. Thank God for that. Thank God for the young people who go out and demonstrate against rampant capitalism or whatever.

I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.

Be happy. It's one way of being wise.

A monarchy conducted with infinite wisdom and infinite benevolence is the most perfect of all possible governments.