It is not the "courage to be" that we must develop as much as the "courage to become." We are responsible for our destiny. The meaning of life is not located in some hidden crevice in the womb of nature but is created by free persons, who are aware that they are responsible for their own futures and have the courage to take this project into their own hands.
Science tells us how to heal and how to kill; it reduces our death rate in retail and then kills us wholesale in war; but only wisdom - desire coordinated in the light of all experience - can tell us when to heal and when to kill.
Antiphon, as another man gets pleasure from a good horse, or a dog, or a bird, I get even more pleasure from good friends. And if I have something good, I teach it to them, and I introduce them to others who will be useful to them with respect to virtue. And together with my friends I go through the treasures of wise men of old which they left behind written in books, and we peruse them. If we see something good, we pick it out and hold it to be a great profit, if we are able to prove useful to one another. --Socrates in Xenophon
Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back...
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.
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We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.
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Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.
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Source type: Book
Essays on Education
http://
Contribution #1717
Great men are they who see that spiritual thought is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world.
. . . she (Wisdom) is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty . . . she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God.
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Source type: Sacred Text
Wisdom of Solomon
7:25-26
http://
Contribution #1564
The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.
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Franklin, Benjamin
Viewed on April 8, 2008
Contribution #267
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
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Source type: Sacred Text
Tao Te Ching
page 1, line 1
Version or Translation - translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
Published by Vintage Books (Random House)
Published in New York, N. Y., United States
Published in 1997 (this edition)
http://this text is widely available in various translations
Contribution #1269
If wisdom is “the realization of that which is of value to ourselves and others” (as philosopher of science Nicholas Maxwell argues), we need to cultivate our wisdom or suffer the catastrophes we’ll otherwise create by foolish uses of our untempered powers. Thus we must now attend concertedly to the values by which we define progress, and we must reach planetary consensus regarding what is best not only for humanity but for all of Earth’s biosphere, for Gaia.
Wisdom: the realization of that which is of value to ourselves and others.
Those who are truly wise will remain unmoved by feelings of happiness and suffering, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, gain and loss.
They will remain calm like the eye of a hurricane.
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Source type: Book
Heart of a Buddha
Published by Amitabha Publications
Published in Temple City, CA
Published in 2003
http://
Contribution #1459
Perfect wisdom,
Perfect tranquility,
Perfect compassion,
arise from
Our love,
Our sincerity.
Our understanding.
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Source type: Book
Heart of a Buddha
Published by Amitabha Publications
Published in Temple City, CA
Published in 2003
http://
Contribution #1359
Insignificant, is the loss of relatives, wealth and fame;
The loss of wisdom is the greatest loss.
Insignificant, is the increase of relatives, wealth and fame;
The increase of wisdom is the highest gain.
Therefore, you should train yourselves thus:
"We will grow in the increase of wisdom"
Thus you should train yourselves.
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To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom.
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It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
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Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
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What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees.
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Intellect, without heart, is infinitely cruel. . . . So that, after all, the real aristocracy must be that of goodness where the intellect is directed by the heart.
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Ingersoll, Robert
Viewed on April 13, 2008
Contribution #657
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
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I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
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If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day
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To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.
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Insight, I believe, refers to the depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another.
One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything.
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Intelligence, guided by kindness, is the highest wisdom. . .
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Ingersoll, Robert
Viewed on April 13, 2008
Contribution #658
There is a saying that Heaven is internal, humanity external and Virtue comes from the Heavenly.
Know Heaven and humanity's actions, root yourself in Heaven and follow Virture.
Then you can bend, stretch, rush forward or hold back, because you will always return to the core and it will be said you have achieved the supreme.
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Source type: Sacred Text
The Book of Chuang Tzu
page143
Version or Translation Translated by Martin Palmer with Elizabeth Breuilly
Published by Penguin Arkana Books
Published in New York
Published in 1996
http://
Contribution #671
To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom.
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Wisdom is know what to do next; virtue is doing it.
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He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
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The
wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole
world.
Justice without
wisdom is impossible.
The intellectual knowledge of eternal things pertains to wisdom; the rational knowledge of temporal things, to science.
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St. Augustine
Viewed on April 10, 2008
Contribution #453
The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
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Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De
Viewed on April 10, 2008
Contribution #435
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
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Wisdom is often nearer when we stoop than when we soar.
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It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
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Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
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