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1 " Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.He came closer still and called out " Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied " Throwing starfish into the ocean." " I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.To this, the young man replied, " The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die." Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, " But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!" At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, " It made a difference for that one. "
2 " He was a wise man who invented God. "
― Plato
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 " It takes a wise man to discover a wise man. "
― Diogenes of Sinope
5 " You cannot insult a wise man with wisdom. "
― Colin Tegerdine , You Can't Google Life
6 " Even a wise man knows doubt from time to time, it is the fool who allows it to rule his judgement. "
― Jennifer Melzer , The Goblin Market (Into the Green, #1)
7 " You are always afraid that somebody may think you a fool. You are afraid that if others think you to be a fool, you will start suspecting it. If so many people think you a fool your self-confidence will be lost. And if everybody goes on repeating that you are a fool, sooner or later you will come to believe it.Only a wise man cannot be deceived, he can appear as a fool.Have you observed yourself? You are always trying to exhibit your wisdom, always in search of a victim to whom you can show your knowledge, just searching, hunting for somebody weaker than you – then you will jump in and you will show your wisdom.A wise man need not be an exhibitionist. Whatsoever is, is. He is not aware of it, he is not in any hurry to show it. If you want to find it, you will have to make efforts. If you have to know whether he is gentle or not, that is going to be your discovery. "
― Osho , The Empty Boat: Talks on the Sayings of Chuang Tzu
8 " So I loathed all the fruit of my effort, for which I worked so hard on earth, because I must leave it behind in the hands of my successor. Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master over all the fruit of my labor for which I worked so wisely on earth! This also is futile! What does a man acquire from all his labor and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth? For all day long his work produces pain and frustration, and even at night his mind cannot relax! This also is futile!There is nothing better for people than to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in their work. "
― , Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher
9 " True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not. "
― Seneca
10 " His eyes drifted leisurely back up to my face and he smiled at me appreciatively, “Kelsey, when a man spends time with a beautiful woman, he needs to pace himself. I quirked my eyebrow at him and laughed. “Yeah, I’m a regular marathon alright.” He kissed my fingers. “Exactly. A wise man never sprints…in a marathon. "
― Colleen Houck , Tiger's Curse (The Tiger Saga, #1)
11 " It is ignorance that is at times incomprehensible to the wise; for instance, he may not see 'the positive person' or 'the negative person' in such a black and white way as many people do. A wise man may not understand it because, as a catalyst of wisdom, but not always wise in his own eyes, even he can learn from and give back to fools. To think that an individual has absolutely nothing to offer to the table is counter-intuitively what the wise man considers to be 'the ignorance of hopelessness'. "
― Criss Jami , Killosophy
12 " Therefore, since the world has stillMuch good, but much less good than ill,And while the sun and moon endureLuck's a chance, but trouble's sure,I'd face it as a wise man would,And train for ill and not for good. "
― A.E. Housman , A Shropshire Lad
13 " Being success is not an easy thing. It need courage, fight, brave, and time. Let them judge. Just show them the result later. Because a wise man said that success is the biggest revenge. "
― Sheilanda Khoirunnisa
14 " Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. "
― Henry David Thoreau , Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
15 " If we are not applying the lessons to be gained from yesterday's history to address the problems of today - then why does any of it matter? Does Babe Ruth's baseball score from 1917 matter to us today? No. Does it matter that Gandhi bickered with his wife, or that Lincoln got into a brawl over Sally at a bar? No. Then why do tribal matches that happened thousands of years ago still mean so much to us today? To keep us from moving forward? To remind us of our racial differences and indifference? To revive tribal bitterness? And what father or God would want his children to keep a record of every argument they have ever had with each other - if there is nothing positive - only harm - to be gained by constantly reminding them? Would a wise man steer his followers to hold onto past hurts - or to squeeze them for every drop of wisdom that could be gained from them - then release them? Isn't forgiveness a holy virtue? And if so, then why do we insist on keeping historical records of resentment? Is the Creator an advocate of love or hate? And if love, then why are we still pushing so much hatred? What is there ever to be gained from vocalizing hatred? Only more hatred. Who wants that? And why? "
16 " Words and actions will separate a wise man from the crowd. "
17 " He looked down at her. " Have you found that peace?" Yes, she had. But it was so corny and cliched that she couldn't bring herself to admit it." A wise man once told me that peace has to come from within. We have to learn to like ourselves before we can find our place in the world. "
18 " Tragedies can contain some of life’s greatest rewards and valuable lessons. Struggle makes you stronger. Pain makes you alert. Clouds bring forth the rain. As a wise man once said, ‘You seek problems because you need their gifts.’ Why would you rob someone of these benefits? "
― Brownell Landrum , A Chorus of Voices: DUET stories Volume III - Adult Version
19 " What a wise man knows, therefore, is how to construct a pattern that, given the human situation, is likely to lead to a good life. "
20 " The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart. "
― Benjamin Franklin
