125 Inspiring Wisdom Quotes To Shape Your Perspective on Life

Sometimes in life, you can feel stuck. And feeling stuck is probably one of the most frustrating things there is. Whether you feel this way due to circumstances that seem out of your control, or simply because you cannot get out of your own way (for whatever reason), the end result is the same. It can be a humbling—and often depressing—time. That is, until you encounter someone or something that sparks just enough inspiration to get you going again or to figure out a solution to your problem. A different perspective can make all the difference. And what better perspective is there than a little bit of insight from wisdom quotes?

Wisdom quotes can be as straightforward as they come, or they can require a thought process bordering on the obscure to fully appreciate them. The beautiful thing about that is, you can read the same quote at different points in your life and receive something different from it depending on your situation and your mindset. It’s all subjective.

If you’re looking for some guidance and in need of a good bit of knowledge and foresight, continue reading this list of 125 best wisdom quotes to stir up some of that inspiration. In reading these quotes, maybe your perspective will be changed or maybe it will be intensified. But no matter the outcome, it’s better to explore than not. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

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125 Best Wisdom Quotes

1. “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein
2. “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” — Maya Angelou
3. “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” — Mahatma Gandhi
4. “Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.” — Thomas Jefferson
5. “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” — Albert Einstein
6. “It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.” — George R.R. Martin
7. “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
8. “He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring
9. “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.” — William James
10. “It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.” — Maurice Switzer, Mrs. Goose, Her Book
11. “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.” — Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
12. “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” — Thomas Szasz
13. “Angry people are not always wise.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
14. “I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance and therein lies my honor and my reward.” — Khalil Gibran
15. “Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” — Anne Bradstreet
16. “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” — Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear
17. “People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.” — Jean Jacques Rousseau
18. “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
19. “Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.” — Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear
20. “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” — William Shakespeare, As You Like It
21. “Wise? No, I simply learned to think.” — Christopher Paolini, Eldest
22. “Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Literary Remains
23. “I ask not for any crown, but that which all may win; nor try to conquer any world, except the one within.” — Louisa May Alcott
24. “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy” — Ludwig van Beethoven
25. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” — Socrates

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Power of Wisdom Quotes

1. “It’s not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!” — Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. “A smart person knows how to talk. A wise person knows when to be silent.” — Roy T. Bennett
3. “No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.” — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
4. “If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. “Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.” — Bob Dylan
6. “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” — Rumi
7. “The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” — Theodore Roosevelt
8. “Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.” — Joss Whedon
9. “When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em.” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
10. “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
11. “Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.” — Ludwig van Beethoven
12. “It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses.” — William Arthur Ward
13. “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
14. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” — Milton Berle
15. “The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.” — George Orwell, In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950
16. “Man is a mystery. It needs to be unraveled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don’t say that you’ve wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
17. “He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.” — Confucius
18. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” — Oprah Winfrey
19. “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.” — Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle
20. “A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.” — Dhammapada, The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha

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Wise Good Morning Quotes

1. “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” — Buddha
2. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
3. “If you win the morning, you win the day.” — Tim Ferriss
4. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” — Sam Levenson
5. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive.” — Marcus Aurelius
6. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
7. “Perseverance is not a long race; it’s many short races one after the other.” — Walter Elliot
8. “Your morning sets the tone for the day, so find some way to express gratitude, to set the right tone.” — Oprah Winfrey
9. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
10. “Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.” — Unknown
11. “Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.” — Abraham Joshua Heschel
12. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” — Lao Tzu
13. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller
14. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to bed with satisfaction.” — George Lorimer
15. “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” — Meister Eckhart
16. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
17. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
18. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
19. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker
20. “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” — Rumi

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Words of Wisdom Quotes

1. “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” — Confucius
2. “It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” — Albert Einstein
3. “I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.” — Robin Williams
4. “There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don’t help them by doing the job yourself.” — Laurell K. Hamilton
5. “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” — Thomas Paine, A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal on the Affairs of North America
6. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates
7. “Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” — Leo F. Buscaglia
8. “Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.” — Michael Levine
9. “Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
10. “Saying ‘yes’ is how things grow. Saying ‘yes’ leads to knowledge. ‘Yes’ is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say ‘Yes’.” — Stephen Colbert
11. “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.
    Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?'” — Brian Tracy
12. “In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” — Mark Twain
13. “Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.” — Karl Lagerfeld
14. “You do not write your life with words…You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.” — Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls
15. “Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” — Paulo Coelho
16. “Guard well your thoughts when alone and your words when accompanied.” — Roy T. Bennett
17. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” — Bruce Lee
18. “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” — Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader
19. “The past has no power over the present moment.” — Eckhart Tolle
20. “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

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Wisdom Quotes About Life

1. “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” — Francis Bacon, The Essays
2. “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” — John Keats
3. “Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.” — Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters
4. “Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” — John Lennon
5. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” — Albert Einstein
6. “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.” — Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical
7. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates
8. “You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” — Colette
9. “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” — Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum
10. “I’m not young enough to know everything.” — J.M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton
11. “All knowledge hurts.” — Cassandra Clare, City of Bones
12. “Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” — Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
13. “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh.” — Marjorie Pay Hinckley
14. “It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters.” — Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations
15. “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” — Isaac Asimov
16. “Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it.” — Stephen Colbert
17. “Hide not your talents, they for use were made, what’s a sundial in the shade?” — Benjamin Franklin
18. “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold.” — Bob Marley
19. “Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.” — Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
20. “May you live every day of your life.” — Jonathan Swift

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Deep Quotes About Wisdom

1. “We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” — Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
2. “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.” — C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
3. “Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” — Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
4. “Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” — Isaac Asimov
5. “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson
6. “It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes.
7. “Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is compensates for the misery of being it.” — Margaret Drabble
8. “Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.” — Kahlil Gibran
9. “Lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin
10. “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” — Siddharta Gautama
11. “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” — Aristotle
12. “We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
13. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” — T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
14. “We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.” — Alan Watts
15. “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein
16. “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” — William James
17. “Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — A.A. Milne
18. “It is strange how often a heart must be broken, before the years can make it wise.” — Sara Teasdale, The Collected Poems
19. “Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict between thinking and feeling.” — Carl Jung
20. “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

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