Top 1200 Most Wise Quotes & Sayings

In New Mexico, my local church did a nativity play, and I was cast as Wise Man #3. Of course, Wise Man #3 had no damn lines. Wise Man #1 had all the lines! I stood there thinking, 'I could do that role so much better!' From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be an actor.

A man goes to the village to visit the wise man and he says to the wise man, “I feel like there are two dogs inside me. One dog is this positive, loving, kind, and gentle dog and then I have this angry, mean-spirited, and negative dog and they fight all the time. I don't know which is going to win.” The wise man thinks for a moment and he says, “I know which is going to win. The one you feed the most, so feed the positive dog.

The wise man is wise in vain who cannot be wise to his own advantage. [Lat., Nequicquam sapere sapientem, qui ipse sibi prodesse non quiret.]

I've been a therapist for more than forty years and certainly there is a place for "wise elders" in the healing process. But most people, most of the time, can heal themselves and those they love, with the help of their family, friends, and community.

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.

It is better to be wise, and not to seem so, than to seem wise, and not be so; yet men, for the most part, desire the contrary.

For surely to be wise is the most desirable thing in all the world.

I'm very positive - music-wise, production-wise and life-wise.

No one in my family had ever done anything acting-wise or entertainment industry-wise.

To the wise man, to the wise nation, the mistakes of the past are the torches of the present.

Friendship of the wise is good; a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.

Far best is he who is himself all-wise, and he, too, good who listens to wise words; But whoso is not wise or lays to hear another's wisdom is a useless man.

Who is all-powerful in the world? Who is most dreadful in the world? The machine. Who is most fair, most wealthy, and all-wise? The machine. What is the earth? A machine. What is the sky? A machine. What is man? A machine. A machine.

None of us was born knowing or wise; but men become wise by consideration, observation, experience.

O' youth do not disobey the words of the wise. Its better than fortune if the wise-one gives you advice.

We are the wise. Do not envy us— We who are too wise to draw near the fire Lest we get burned; We who are too wise to love Lest love should vanish and we be hurt. We are the wise. Do not envy us our wisdom— We who are too wise to live Lest we should die.

If thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue.

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.

I'm going forward with my plans for life. I'm looking at things not only basketball-wise, but personal-wise.

Out of all those centuries the Greeks can count seven sages at the most, and if anyone looks at them more closely I swear he'll not find so much as a half-wise man or even a third of a wise man among them.

The wise men of old have sent most of their morality down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram; and the proverbs of nations, which embody the commonsense of nations, have the brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit.

The wise man must be wise before, not after, the event.

We actually try our best to be non-biased, but for me, that was the best movie ["Sicario"], filmmaking-wise and storytelling-wise, and connected to me the most. I thought it was great.

There is a lot of territory out there still to explore TV-wise, show-wise, movie-wise, everything.

Be wise, because the world needs more wisdom. And if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.

I was born wise. Street-wise, people-wise, self-wise. This wisdom was my birthright.

As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness.

Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men.

It would be most right, and most wise, and, therefore must involve least suffering.

The man who walks with wise men becomes wise himself.

Much has seen said of the wisdom of old age. Old age is wise, I grant, for itself, but not wise for the community. It is wise in declining new enterprises, for it has not the power nor the time to execute them; wise in shrinking from difficulty, for it has not the strength to overcome it; wise in avoiding danger, for it lacks the faculty of ready and swift action, by which dangers are parried and converted into advantages. But this is not wisdom for mankind at large, by whom new enterprises must be undertaken, dangers met, and difficulties surmounted.

Your dear baby has died innocent and blameless, and has been called away by an all wise and merciful Creator, most probably from a life to misery and misfortune, and most certainly to one of happiness and bliss.

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

It is the great support and solace of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here, that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues.

For the most part we stupidly confound one man with another. The dull distinguish only races or nations, or at most classes, but the wise man, individuals.

To be wise doesn't always mean to have a wrinkled face and sparkly eyes. To be wise means to be still inside.

The only real difference between a wise man and a fool, Moore knew, was that the wise man tended to make more serious mistakes—and only because no one trusted a fool with really crucial decisions; only the wise had the opportunity to lose battles, or nations.

Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.

In the West the wise are usually thought of as leaders. In the East, the wise are very often though of as followers.

Lots of old people don't become wise, but you don't get wise unless you age.

One is more apt to become wise by doing fool things than by reading wise sayings.

We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.

Being a senior doesn't automatically make one wise but the wise & foolish alike have things to teach us.

A wise quote can only change a wise man! Therefore, wise sayings are for the wise men, not for the fools! The sunflowers turn their face toward the Sun, the fools, toward the darkness!

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

For since the fabric of the universe is most perfect and the work of a most wise Creator, nothing at all takes place in the universe in which some rule of maximum or minimum does not appear.

They're mutually incompatible I feel; being a wise thief and a wise father.

Nonsense! The most hopelessly stupid man is he who is not aware that he is wise.

The only people who cannot change are the most wise and the most stupid.

The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.

We can learn much from wise words, little from wisecracks, and less from wise guys.

The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them.

It is ignorance that is at times incomprehensible to the wise; for instance, he may not see 'the positive person' or 'the negative person' in a black and white way as many people do. A wise man may not understand it because, as a catalyst of wisdom, but not wise in his own eyes, even he can learn from and give back to fools. To think that an individual has absolutely nothing to offer to the table is counter-intuitively what the wise man considers to be 'the ignorance of hopelessness'.

Of all knowledge the wise and good seek most to know themselves.

In most movies, they show you somebody who is perfect looks-wise, and skills-wise, and the movie doesn't give you a choice.

I find that with period pieces, you're sort of able to really take advantage of what's around you because prop-wise, wardrobe-wise and location-wise, it's all so specific due to that time.

If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old.

I think humanity is not wise enough to know what genotype or somatype is going to be the most successful or the most fit - simply because we're not fully in control of our environment.

Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.