Are you seeking answers to life’s big questions? Are you feeling called to explore spirituality? Or are you feeling despair and looking for the light? On the path of personal development, we often find ourselves seeking guidance from those who have gone before us.
Wisdom comes from having the correct knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments. Wisdom quotes and sayings from intelligent beings can help us when we feel unsure of which way to go. While we cannot become wise overnight, we can take their lessons and incorporate them into our journeys. We can use their advice as a lantern to lead us towards the right choices.
Reading wisdom quotes will give you an instant boost of positivity and inspiration. They can spark new ideas, help you realize and release negative habits, and even change your perspective on the world. So take your time to read through this list, acknowledging every word. Be sure to spend some time reflecting afterward, too, as you ponder on how these words relate to you and your life.
1. “If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Mary Engelbreit
2. “Honesty is the first book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson
3. “Happiness and freedom begin with one principle. Some things are within your control and some are not.” – Epictetus
4. “Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” – Harper Lee
5. “The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.” – John F. Kennedy
6. “While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.” – Benjamin Franklin
7. “Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.” – Jules Renard
8. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” — John F. Kennedy
9. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau
10. “I’m always doing things I can’t do. That’s how I get to do them.” – Pablo Picasso
11. “It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” – Leon Brown
12. “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” – Seneca
13. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” – Barack Obama
14. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey
15. “There are three constants in life…change, choice and principles.” — Stephen Covey
16. “The wise person feels the pain of one arrow. The unwise feels the pain of two.” – Kate Carne
17. “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney
18. “It soon became clear that doing one thing better and better might be more satisfying than staying an amateur at many different things.” – Angela Duckworth
19. “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” – Marjorie Pay Hinckley
20. “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” – Earl Nightingale
21. “Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.” – John D. Rockefeller
22. “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
23. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau
24. “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
25. “When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs.” – Thomas A Kempis
26. “The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
27. “A wise owl sat on an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard. Why aren’t we like the wise old bird?” – Charles M Schulz
28. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – George S. Patton
29. “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” – Audrey Hepburn
30. “Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don’t get so worked up about things.” – Kenneth Branagh
31. “Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.” — Sandra Carey
32. “The man of knowledge must be able not onTo conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” – Bertrand Russell
33. “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” – Abraham Maslow
34. “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz
35. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll
36. “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein
37. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
38. “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia
39. “Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind and has given up worrying once and for all.” – Ovid
40. “Life isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself. So live the life you imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
41. “People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.” – J. Michael Straczynsk
42. “Sincere practice makes the impossible possible.” – Dada Vaswani
43. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
44. “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” – Benjamin Disraeli
45. “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” – Andre Gide
46. “Make it your habit not to be critical about small things.” – Edward Everett Hale
47. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
48. “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill
49. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
50. “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” – Charles Dickens
Wisdom is something we gain as we grow and evolve. However, the more we focus on personal and spiritual development, the wiser we will become. As well as reading wisdom quotes, you can seek knowledge from books and texts from the most influential people in history.
You can also gain wisdom by looking for lessons in your experiences. By taking the time to reflect on the events in your life, you’ll see that the world is always trying to teach you something, and the more open you are to it, the wiser you will become.
