Famous Quotes & Sayings

Quintus Ennius

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.]

Questlove

During the 2008 election, I made clear to the Obama campaign that I don't think it's wise for me to force my personal political agenda on anyone.

Quintilian

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish. [Lat., Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt, stulti eruditis videntur.]

Quentin Crisp

Politics are not an instrument for effecting social change; they are the art of making the inevitable appear to be a matter of wise human choice.

If we view our children as stupid, naughty, disturbed, or guilty of their misdeeds, they will learn to behold themselves as foolish, faulty, or shameful specimens of humanity. They will regard us as judges from whom they wish to hide, and they will interpret everything we say as further proof of their unworthiness. If we view them as innocent, or at least merely ignorant, they will gain understanding from their experiences, and they will continue to regard us as wise partners.

Plotinus

All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.

Pliny the Elder

No one is wise at all times.

Pliny the Elder

No mortal man, moreover is wise at all moments.

Pliny the Elder

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.

Plutarch

Where two discourse, if the anger of one rises, he is the wise man who lets the contest fall.

Plutarch

When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.

Plutarch

For there is no virtue, the honour and credit for which procures a man more odium from the elite than that of justice; and this, because more than any other, it acquires a man power and authority among the common people. For they only honour the valiant and admire the wise, while in addition they also love just men, and put entire trust and confidence in them.

Plutarch

Silence is an answer to a wise man.

Plutarch

For the wise man, every day is a festival.

Plutarch

To please the many is to displease the wise.

Plutarch

Wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities.

Plutarch

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.

Plutarch

For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.

Plutarch

It is wise to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.

Plutarch

Euripides was wont to say, silence was an answer to a wise man; but we seem to have greater occasion for it in our dealing with fools and unreasonable persons; for men of breeding and sense will be satisfied with reason and fair words.

Plutarch

The conduct of a wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs. Often by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter secures a greater.

Plutarch

Water and our necessary food are the only things that wise men must fight for.

Plutarch

The man who is completely wise and virtuous has no need of glory, except so far as it disposes and eases his way to action by the greater trust that it procures him.

Plutarch

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.

Phyllis Schlafly

The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.

Phoebe Cary

Sometimes, I think the things we see are shadows of the things to be; that what we plan we build

Philip Yancey

A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me.

Pope Benedict XVI

Everyone should educate themselves in more wise and responsible consumption; promote personal responsibility, along with the social dimension of rural activities, which are based on perennial values, such as hospitality, solidarity, and the sharing of the toil of labor.

Naveen Jain

As a father, I believe that involving children in sports at a young age is generally, a wise proposition. I believe that healthy competition is... well... healthy; that sporting events foster a spirit of teamwork that far surpasses the events themselves; and that active participation keeps children moving and is good for their self-esteem.

Jimmy Buffett

Any attempts at autobiography before the age of eighty seem pretty self-involved to me. There are a lot of smart middle aged people but not many wise ones.

The pulse of a strong relationship involves a rhythmic movement between giving and taking, talking and listening, valuing the other person and feeling commensurately valued in return.

Jim Rohn

Life is accumulative - Either our errors accumulate to what we don't get, or our wise decisions accumulate into what we do get.

George MacDonald

In very truth, a wise imagination, which is the presence of the spirit of God, is the best guide that man or woman can have; for it is not the things we see the most clearly that influence us the most powerfully; undefined, yet vivid visions of something beyond, something which eye has not seen nor ear heard, have far more influence than any logical sequences whereby the same things may be demonstrated to the intellect. It is the nature of the thing, not the clearness of its outline, that determines its operation. We live by faith, and not by sight.