We are all seeking wisdom throughout philosophy. This is the tie that binds the community together. We all seek to use different avenues of philosophy to arrive at wisdom and thus transform ourselves and the world around us.

Philosophy is often denigrated as something up in the clouds, with no practical application to the world around us. However, we believe that philosophy is something that helps us to make sense of both ourselves and the world in which we live. It is the only candle that we have to light the darkness.

One of the most important questions in philosophy is what actually constitutes true wisdom. What’s more, philosophy is deeply concerned with how one attains wisdom. Neither of these questions have obvious answers and have been wrestled over by some of the greatest minds in human history.

We urge you to wrestle with these questions yourself. For we believe that wisdom isn’t something that one receives from outside, but rather something that one arrives at through the process of carefully considering difficult questions. It is in this spirit that we present the following quotes on the subjects of philosophy and wisdom. It is our wish that these will spark the kinds of thoughtful reflections that will have you arriving at your own place of wisdom.

Quotes About Wisdom

 

Thomas Paine quote on wisdom

 

“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”

– Thomas Paine

 

Socrates quote on wisdom

 

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”

– Socrates

 

Socrates quote on wisdom 2

 

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

– Socrates

 

Chinese proverb on wisdom

 

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their true names.”

– Chinese proverb

 

Chinese proverb on wisdom 2

 

“A wise man gets more from his enemies than a fool does from his friends.”

– Chinese proverb

 

Proverbs 11-29 quote on wisdom

 

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

– Proverbs 11:29

 

Proverbs 19-8 quote on wisdom

 

“To acquire wisdom is to love oneself; people who cherish understanding will prosper.”

– Proverbs 19:8

 

Henry David Thoreau quote on wisdom

 

“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, not even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.”

– Henry David Thoreau

 

Confucius quote on wisdom

 

“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

 

H.L. Mencken quote on wisdom

 

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

– H.L. Mencken

 

Francis Bacon quote on wisdom

 

“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”

– Francis Bacon

 

Joseph Addison quote on wisdom

 

“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.”

– Joseph Addison

 

Karl Lagerfeld quote on wisdom

 

“Anyone who is not at least trilingual is a hick.”

– Karl Lagerfeld

 

Rumi quote on wisdom

 

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

– Rumi

 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb quote on wisdom

 

“When the beard (or hair) is black, heed the reasoning, but ignore the conclusion. When the beard is gray, consider both reasoning and conclusion. When the beard is white, skip the reasoning, but mind the conclusion.”

– Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the Game

 

Saint Augustine quote on wisdom

 

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page.”

– Saint Augustine

 

Shakespeare quote on wisdom

 

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

– William Shakespeare, As You Like It

 

Johnathan Swift quote on wisdom

 

“May you live every day of your life.”

– Johnathan Swift

 

Joseph Campbell quote on wisdom

 

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

– Joseph Campbell

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on wisdom

 

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes About Philosophy

 

Immanuel Kant quote on philosophy

 

“Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.”

– Immanuel Kant

 

Alan Watts quote on philosophy

 

“Science used to be called natural philosophy. Aristotle once said that “The beginning of philosophy is wonder.” Philosophy is man’s expression of curiosity about everything and his attempt to make sense of the world primarily through his intellect; that is to say, his faculty for thinking.”

– Alan Watts

 

Unknown quote on philosophy

 

“What’s really heavy but weighs nothing at all? Nihilism.”

– Unknown

 

René Descartes quote on philosophy

 

“I think therefore I am.”

– René Descartes

 

Rene Descartes quote on wisdom 2

 

“One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.”

– René Descartes

 

Seneca the Younger quote on philosophy

 

“Even while they teach, men learn.”

– Seneca the Younger

 

William James quote on philosophy

 

“Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits.”

– William James

 

Thomas Hobbes quote on philosophy

 

“Leisure is the mother of philosophy.”

– Thomas Hobbes

 

Bertrand Russell quote on philosophy

 

“Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don’t know.”

– Bertrand Russell

 

Bertrand Russell quote on philosophy 2

 

“Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.”

– Bertrand Russell