The word “wisdom” comes from the Old English wisdom “knowledge, learning, experience,” from wis  + -dom. Its roots mean “to perceive, to discern” and “to know.”

The dictionary defines wisdom as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; and the quality of being wise.

Sagacity, intelligence, understanding, insight, perception, perceptiveness, discernment, prudence, and good sense are all synonyms of wisdom.

When we think of wisdom, we think of Jesus Christ, famous religious leaders, philosophers, and leaders throughout the history of the world.

We can all agree that wisdom goes beyond information, knowledge, reflection, thought, or experience, though it involves all five. Acquiring wisdom implies the deliberate application for the good of self, family, and society. Wise people are also open-minded and exhibit a growth mindset, as well as a curious nature.

Psychology has proven that intelligent people (those with a high IQ) and highly educated individuals can often lack wisdom because they are susceptible to 4 fallacies that can easily cloud their judgment:

• The Egocentrism Fallacy: makes you think the world revolves around you (selfishness and self-importance).
• The Omniscience Fallacy: makes you believe that you know everything and don’t need to listen to what others have to say.
• The Omnipotence Fallacy: makes you think your IQ, education, or experience give you some kind of super powers.
• The Invulnerability Fallacy: makes you believe you can get away with anything or that something doesn’t apply to you.

In the Bible, we learn that our attitude can prevent us from recognizing, seeking, or receiving wisdom: “a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise,” (Proverbs 15:12).

Let’s study some of the best positive quotes about wisdom together and get perspective on what wisdom truly means.

Positive Quotes About WISDOM

“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” ~ Saint Augustine

“Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

“Wisdom is knowing when you can’t be wise.” ~ Paul Engle

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” ~ Francis Bacon

“Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.” ~ Sophocles

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” ~ Confucius

“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.” ~ Norman Cousins

“Wisdom has never made a bigot, but learning has.” ~ Josh Billings

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.” ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” ~ Anton Chekhov

“Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.” ~ Sophocle “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.” ~ Pierre Corneille

“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

“Look twice before you leap.” ~ Charlotte Bronte

“Life is a traveling to the edge of knowledge, then a leap taken.” ~ D. H. Lawrence

“Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.” ~ Euripides

“Our experience is composed rather of illusions lost than of wisdom acquired.” ~ Joseph Roux

“Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom.” ~ Bodhidharma

“Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values.” ~ Sidney Hook

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.” ~ Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“To profit from good advice requires more wisdom than to give it.” ~ Wilson Mizner

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” ~ John C. Maxwell

“It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.” ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.” ~ Epictetus

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.” ~ Juvenal

“The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“A mistake is simply another way of doing things.” ~ Katharine Graham

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.” ~ Phil Jackson

“The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching.” ~ Joseph Smith, Jr.

“Wisdom is found only in truth.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.” ~ William Wordsworth

“Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore

“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.” ~ Leonard Nimoy

“Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.” ~ Octavio Paz

“Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.” ~ William J. Clinton

“They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.” ~ William Cowper

“The less you talk, the more you’re listened to.” ~ Pauline Phillips

“Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.” ~ Plutarch

“Wisdom begins in wonder.” ~ Socrates

“Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense.” ~ Julian Casablancas

“It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.” ~ John Wooden

“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.” ~ Charles Dickens

“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” ~ Socrates

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.” ~ Phil Jackson

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

“All human wisdom works and has worries and grief as reward.” ~ Johann Georg Hamann

“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.” ~ Publilius Syrus

“The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.” ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“When in doubt, don’t.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” ~ William James

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” ~ Jim Rohn

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~ Lao Tzu

“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

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ~ Lewis Carroll

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” ~ Lao Tzu

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” ~ Carl Jung

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ~ Aristotle

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” ~ Aldous Huxley

“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.” ~ Harvey Mackay

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder.” ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

What is your favorite positive quote about Wisdom? We can become wiser as we learn from great thinkers, listen to the wisest people in our lives, study how wise people of the past lived their lives, and develop a coachable attitude and an open mind. 

[ela]