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Wisdom Quotes by Famous Authors

1. “Life deceives everyone except the individual who doesn’t contemplate it, the individual who demands nothing from it, the individual who serenely accepts its few gifts and serenely makes the most of them.”

Ivan Turgenev

Acceptance, Life, Simplicity, Wisdom, Peace

2. “In ieder geval zal het bij een juiste inrichting van der maatschappij geen enkel verschil maken of iemand dom of verstandig, slecht of goed is.”

Ivan Turgenev

Society, Equality, Structure, Morality, Wisdom

3. “Jesus was a brilliant Jewish stand-up comedian, a phenomenal improviser. His parables are great one-liners.”

Camille Paglia

Religion, Humor, Philosophy, Christianity, Wisdom

4. “When in doubt, I read Oscar Wilde.”

Camille Paglia

Literature, Reading, Philosophy, Humor, Wisdom

5. “The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.”

J.P. Morgan

Wisdom, Planning, Progress, Success, Vision

6. “Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed.”

John D. Rockefeller

Success, Listening, Wisdom, Learning, Communication

7. “It is one thing to stand on the comfortable ground of placid inaction and put forth words of cynical wisdom, and another to plunge into the work itself and through strenuous experience earn the right to express strong conclusions.”

John D. Rockefeller

Action, Wisdom, Experience, Effort, Work

8. “We are never too old to study the Bible. Each time the lessons are studied comes some new meaning, some new thought which will make us better.”

John D. Rockefeller

Bible, Learning, Wisdom, Faith, Growth

9. “The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money.”

John D. Rockefeller

Money, Control, Wealth, Wisdom, Priorities

10. “Don’t waste effort on a thing that ends in a petty triumph unless you are happy with a life of petty success.”

John D. Rockefeller

Success, Effort, Priorities, Wisdom, Achievement

11. “Be sure that you are not deceiving yourself at any time about actual conditions.”

John D. Rockefeller

Truth, Awareness, Reality, Wisdom, Self-Deception

12. “Never lose interest in life and the world. Never allow yourself to become annoyed.”

John D. Rockefeller

Life, Interest, Positivity, Wisdom, Patience

13. “It is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know.”

John D. Rockefeller

Listening, Wisdom, Learning, Awareness, Communication

14. “The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Actions, Integrity, Truth, Experience

15. “Mutual ignorance breeds mutual distrust.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Society, Knowledge, Understanding, Trust

16. “When fate hands us a lemon, let’s try to make lemonade.”

Andrew Carnegie

Positivity, Optimism, Resilience, Adaptability, Wisdom

17. “A man’s reading program should be as carefully planned as his daily diet, for that too is food, without which he cannot grow mentally.”

Andrew Carnegie

Reading, Knowledge, Growth, Learning, Wisdom

18. “I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated mechanism – man.”

Andrew Carnegie

Humanity, Understanding, Technology, Curiosity, Wisdom

19. “It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.”

Andrew Carnegie

Growth, Teamwork, Leadership, Wisdom, Collaboration

20. “He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Reasoning, Courage, Freedom, Mentality

21. “It is a waste of time to criticize the inevitable.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Acceptance, Time, Perspective, Reality

22. “He that cannot reason is a fool.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Intelligence, Logic, Thinking, Knowledge

23. “The secret of happiness is renunciation.”

Andrew Carnegie

Happiness, Simplicity, Wisdom, Life, Contentment

24. “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”

Andrew Carnegie

Actions, Wisdom, Experience, Observation, Reality

25. “It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wealth, Philanthropy, Responsibility, Giving, Wisdom

26. “Here lies one who knew how to get around him men who were cleverer than himself.”

Andrew Carnegie

Leadership, Strategy, Success, Wisdom, Humility

27. “Those who would administer wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity.”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Charity, Leadership, Society, Responsibility

28. “I wish to have as my epitaph: ‘Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.’”

Andrew Carnegie

Wisdom, Leadership, Humility, Success, Legacy

29. “Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.”

Guy Kawasaki

Patience, Mindset, Wisdom, Self-control, Discipline

30. “Looking back on my own career, I’ve come to the conclusion that too much money is worse than too little.”

Guy Kawasaki

Money, Success, Perspective, Balance, Wisdom

31. “Arguably, in business books, I don’t think there’s much that has never been said before.”

Guy Kawasaki

Business, Books, Knowledge, Wisdom, Perspective

32. “You have to sit by the side of a river a very long time before a roast duck will fly into your mouth.”

Guy Kawasaki

Patience, Effort, Success, Perseverance, Wisdom

33. “The self-edited author is as foolish as the self-medicated patient.”

Guy Kawasaki

Editing, Writing, Improvement, Perspective, Wisdom

34. “I have developed a Zen-like approach to the operating systems that people use: 'When you're ready, the right operating system will appear in your life.'”

Guy Kawasaki

Mindset, Technology, Experience, Perspective, Wisdom

35. “Defy the crowd. The crowd isn’t always wise. It can also lead you down a path of silliness, sub-optimal choices, and downright destruction. Enchantment is as necessary for people to diverge from a crowd as it is to get people to join one.”

Guy Kawasaki

Individuality, Wisdom, Mindset, Influence, Decision-making

36. “I don't take myself that seriously. I'm a pragmatist.”

Guy Kawasaki

Mindset, Attitude, Perspective, Pragmatism, Wisdom

37. “Inoculate yourself from dangerous bozos.”

Guy Kawasaki

Wisdom, Awareness, Protection, Mindset, Influence

38. “The next time you think that there’s something that you ‘can’t live without,’ wait for a week and then see if you’re still alive or not.”

Guy Kawasaki

Perspective, Wisdom, Detachment, Minimalism, Mindset

39. “This is the magnanimity of authorship, when a writer having a topic presented to him, fruitful of beauties for common minds, waives his privilege, and trusts to the judicious few for understanding the reason of his abstinence.”

Charles Lamb

Writing, Art, Expression, Insight, Wisdom

40. “The measure of choosing well, is, whether a man likes and finds good in what he has chosen.”

Charles Lamb

Choices, Decision, Wisdom, Satisfaction, Judgment

41. “Every commonplace or trite observation is not a truism.”

Charles Lamb

Thought, Perspective, Wisdom, Truth, Expression

42. “We grow gray in our spirit long before we grow gray in our hair.”

Charles Lamb

Aging, Wisdom, Experience, Growth, Perspective

43. “Credulity is the man’s weakness, but the child’s strength.”

Charles Lamb

Belief, Innocence, Trust, Experience, Wisdom

44. “Is the world all grown up? Is childhood dead? Or is there not in the bosom of the wisest and the best some of the child’s heart left, to respond to its earliest enchantments?”

Charles Lamb

Childhood, Innocence, Wisdom, Growth, Nostalgia