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1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom

[defining and explaining the nature of true wisdom]

37 ideas
Speak the truth, for this alone deifies man [Pythagoras, by Porphyry]
Serene wisdom is freedom from ties, and indifference to fortune [Anon (Bhag)]
Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works [Plato]
Spiritual qualities only become advantageous with the growth of wisdom [Plato]
Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato]
The finest branch of wisdom is justice and moderation in ordering states and families [Plato]
For Plato true wisdom is supernatural [Plato, by Weil]
Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious [Aristotle]
Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes [Aristotle]
Knowledge chosen for its own sake, rather than for results, is wisdom [Aristotle]
Wisdom seeks explanations, causes, and reasons why things are as they are [Aristotle, by Politis]
There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Aristotle, by Whitcomb]
Words of wisdom are precise and clear [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
Wisdom for one instant is as good as wisdom for eternity [Chrysippus]
Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Cicero, by Long]
Wisdom does not lie in books, and unread people can also become wise [Seneca]
Theory vanishes when one has obtained wisdom [Rahulabhadra]
The wisdom of a free man is a meditation on life, not on death [Spinoza]
If we are not wholly wise, we should live by good rules and maxims [Spinoza]
Wisdom is knowing all of the sciences, and their application [Leibniz]
Wisdom involves the desire to achieve perfection [Leibniz]
Wisdom is the science of happiness [Leibniz]
Cleverness is shown in knowing what can reasonably be asked [Kant]
Moral self-knowledge is the beginning of all human wisdom [Kant]
Wisdom is knowing the highest good, and conforming the will to it [Kant]
Wisdom emerges at the end of a process [Hegel]
The highest wisdom has the guise of simplicity [Nietzsche]
Wisdom prevents us from being ruled by the moment [Nietzsche]
It is wisdom to believe what you desire, because belief is needed to achieve it [James]
A sense of timelessness is essential to wisdom [Russell]
Wisdom only implies the knowledge achievable in any normal lifetime [Foot]
We take courage, temperance, wisdom and justice as moral, but Aristotle takes wisdom as intellectual [Foot]
For ancient Greeks being wise was an ethical value [Putnam]
Wisdom needs both thought and passion, with each reflecting on the other [Solomon]
Philosophy needs wisdom about who we are, as well as how we ought to be [Flanagan]
Wisdom has a higher value than understanding, which has a higher value than knowledge [Greco]
Unlike knowledge, wisdom cannot be misused [Zagzebski]