“All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.”
Wisdom is not the same as intelligence — it is intelligence filtered through experience, humility, and time. These quotes offer the kind of perspective you usually have to live several decades to acquire, compressed into a sentence or two.
“The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.”
“All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.”
“A wholesome oblivion of one's neighbours is the beginning of wisdom.”
“The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.”
“I am thinking of taking a fifth wife. Why not? Solomon had a thousand wives and he is a synonym for wisdom.”
“Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.”
“This society in which we live is radically changing. What previous generations saw as evil is now embraced as being good. It is a dangerous and slippery slope upon which we stand when we reject what Solomon called the beginning of wisdom - the fear of God.”
“The clouds may drop down titles and estates, and wealth may seek us, but wisdom must be sought.”
“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”
“He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father's wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does to his father's care.”
“Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next.”
“To profit from good advice requires more wisdom than to give it.”
“Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.”
“One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.”
“A short saying often contains much wisdom.”
“In my own personal life, God plays a great role in the risk, because I pray before I go into the operating room for every case, and I ask him to give me wisdom, to help me to know what to do - and not only for operating, but for everything.”