Home > Topic > the wise man
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 " An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself. "
― Epictetus , The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness
3 " O dear Pan and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. Let all my external possessions be in friendly harmony with what is within. May I consider the wise man rich. As for gold, let me have as much as a moderate man could bear and carry with him. "
― Plato , Phaedrus
4 " The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. "
― William Shakespeare , As You Like It
5 " Talk is free but the wise man chooses when to spend his words. "
― Neil Gaiman , Odd and the Frost Giants
6 " Behold, the fool saith, " Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" - which is but a matter of saying, " Scatter your money and your attention" ; but the wise man saith, " Pull all your eggs in the one basket and - WATCH THAT BASKET." - Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar "
7 " The little Otak was hiding in the rafters of the house, as it did when strangers entered. There it stayed while the rain beat on the walls and the fire sank down and the night wearing slowly along left the old woman nodding by the hearthpit. Then the otak crept down and came to Ged where he lay stretched stiff and still upon the bed. It began to lick his hands and wrists, long and patiently, with its dry leaf-brown tongue. Crouching beside his head it licked his temple, his scarred cheek, and softly his closed eyes. And very slowly under that soft touch Ged roused. He woke, not knowing where he had been or where he was or what was the faint grey light in the air about him, which was the light of dawn coming to the world. Then the otak curled up near his shoulder as usual, and went to sleep.Later, when Ged thought back upon that night, he knew that had none touched him when he lay thus spirit-lost, had none called him back in some way, he might have been lost for good. It was only the dumb instinctive wisdom of the beast who licks his hurt companion to comfort him, and yet in that wisdom Ged saw something akin to his own power, something that went as deep as wizardry. From that time forth he believed that the wise man is one who never sets himself apart from other living things, whether they have speech or not, and in later years he strove to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees "
― Ursula K. Le Guin , A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
8 " What whispers from the center of the soul is an innocence—so loving, so pure, so divine—that the sage bows and the wise man weeps at the sound of its soft singing. "
― Heather K. O'Hara , The Path of Songs: A Gift for the Soul
9 " According to the philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville: The wise man has nothing left to expect or to hope for. Because he is entirely happy, he needs nothing. Because he needs nothing, he is entirely happy. "
― Matthieu Ricard
10 " 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
11 " Do not use your energy except for a cause more noble than yourself. Such a cause cannot be found except in Almighty God Himself: to preach the truth, to defend womanhood, to repel humiliation which your Creator has not imposed upon you, to help the oppressed. Anyone who uses his energy for the sake of the vanities of the world is like someone who exchanges gemstones for gravel. There is no nobility in anyone who lacks faith. The wise man knows that the only fitting price for his soul is a place in Paradise... "
12 " Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practise even a grain of it. The wise man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action. "
― Ramakrishna
13 " Always remember this, Henri. Men trade for profit. They are driven by greed. But debt is about fear, and fear is stronger than greed. The true power, the weapon that defeats all others, is debt. Fools search for gold. The wise man studies debt. That is the key to all business. "
― Edward Rutherfurd , London
14 " Men inflict injuries from hatred, jealousy or contempt, but the wise man masters all these passions by means of reason. "
― Epicurus , The Art of Happiness
15 " What the wise man knows he questions but what the fool believes he sees. "
― Jason Versey
16 " This is the history of governments, - one man does something which is to bind another. A man who cannot be acquainted with me, taxes me; looking from afar at me, ordains that a part of my labour shall go to this or that whimsical end, not as I, but as he happens to fancy. Behold the consequence. Of all debts, men are least willing to pay the taxes. What a satire is this on government! Everywhere they think they get their money's worth, except for these. Hence, the less government we have, the better, - the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual; the appearance of the principal to supersede the proxy; the appearance of the wise man, of whom the existing government, is, it must be owned, but a shabby imitation. That which all things tend to educe, which freedom, cultivation, intercourse, revolutions, go to form and deliver, is character; that is the end of nature, to reach unto this coronation of her king. To educate the wise man, the State exists; and with the appearance of the wise man, the State expires. The appearance of character makes the State unnecessary. The wise man is the State. He needs no army, fort, or navy, - he loves men too well; no bribe, or feast, or palace, to draw friends to him; no vantage ground, no favourable circumstance. He needs no library, for he has not done thinking; no church, for he is a prophet; no statute book, for he has the lawgiver; no money, for he is value; no road, for he is at home where he is; no experience, for the life of the creator shoots through him, and looks from his eyes. He has no personal friends, for he who has the spell to draw the prayer and piety of all men unto him, needs not husband and educate a few, to share with him a select and poetic life. His relation to men is angelic; his memory is myrrh to them; his presence, frankincense and flowers. "
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
17 " One day, the old wise Socrates walks down the streets, when all of the sudden a man runs up to him " Socrates I have to tell you something about your friend who..." " Hold up" Socrates interrupts him " About the story you're about to tell me, did you put it trough the three sieves?" " Three sieves?" The man asks " What three sieves?" " Let's try it" Socrates says." The first sieve is the one of truth, did you examine what you were about to tell me if it is true?" Socrates asks." Well no, I just overheard it" The man says." Ah, well then you have used the second sieve, the sieve of good?" Socrates asks " Is it something good what you're about to tell me?" " Ehm no, on the contrary" the man answers." Hmmm" The wise man says " Let's use the third sieve then, is it necessary to tell me what you're so exited about?" " No not necessary" the man says." Well" Socrates says with a smile " If the story you're about to tell me isn't true, good or necessary, just forget it and don't bother me with it. "
18 " One of my professors in college used to say As the wise man said, Do or do not, there is no try, but the advice columns generally say the opposite. If someone promises to try, and you're happy with that, don't push. It can backfire. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble asking for too much. "
― Jael McHenry
19 " The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws. "
― Walt Whitman
20 " But no matter how much parents and grandparents may have sinned against the child, the man who is really adult will accept these sins as his own condition which has to be reckoned with. Only a fool is interested in other people's guilt, since he cannot alter it. The wise man learns only from his own guilt. He will ask himself: Who am I that all this should happen to me? To find the answer to this fateful question he will look into his own heart. "
― C.G. Jung , Dreams