The Master was exceedingly gracious to the University dons who visited him, but he would never reply to their questions or be drawn into their theological speculations.
To his disciples, who marveled at this, he said, "Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well—or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?"
-Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom
An Oriental wise man always used to ask the divinity in his prayers to be so kind as to spare him from living in an interesting era. As we are not wise, the divinity has not spared us and we are living in an interesting era. In any case, our era forces us to take an interest in it. The writers of today know this. If they speak up, they are criticized and attacked. If they become modest and keep silent, they are vociferously blamed for their silence.
-Albert Camus, from his 1957 lecture at the University of Uppsala
If intelligence is getting what you want, wisdom is wanting what’s worth getting in the first place.
-Shane Parrish, from this episode
In sum, principles are the collective wisdom of our species. They tell us what is valuable. They warn us what is not. Principles of law safeguard society and protect our rights. Health principles guide us on nutrition, exercise, and the prevention of disease. Scientific principles further technology and explain the natural world. Spiritual principles guide our lives. Or should.
There will always be arguments about doctrine, of course. But there is little disagreement on core principles: honesty, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, perseverance, justice, humility, charity, and gratitude.
These principles aren't binding. They're liberating. They imbue life with meaning. And, make no mistake, human beings are meaning-seeking creatures. Without a reason to live, people easily fall into depression or despair. In some sense, we are all spiritual seekers.
-Alexander Green, beyond Wealth: The road map to a rich life
We are responsible for our own ignorance or, with time and open hearted enlightenment, our own wisdom.
Elias Schwartz repairs shoes. He's short and round and bald and single and middle-aged and Jewish. "An old-fashioned cobbler," says he, nothing more, nothing less. I happen to be convinced that he is really the 145th reincarnation of the Haiho Lama.
See, the Haiho Lama died in 1937, and the monks of the Sa-skya monastery have been searching for forty years for his reincarnation without success. The New York Times carried the story last summer. The article noted that the Lama would be recognized by the fact that he went around saying and doing wise things in small, mysterious ways, and that he would be doing the will of God without understanding why.
Through some unimaginable error in the cosmic switching yards, the Haiho Lama has been reincarnated as Elias Schwartz. I have no doubts about it.
My first clue came when I took my old Bass loafers in for total renewal. The works. Elias Schwartz examined them with intense care. With regret in his voice he pronounced them not worthy of repair. I accepted the unwelcome judgment. Then he took my shoes, disappeared into the back of the shop, and I waited and wondered. He returned with my shoes in a stapled brown bag. For carrying, I thought.
When I opened the bag at home that evening, I found two gifts and a note. In each shoe, a chocolate-chip cookie wrapped in waxed paper. And these words in the note: "Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well. Think about it. Elias Schwartz."
The Haiho Lama strikes again.
And the monks will have to go on looking. Because I'll never tell—we need all the Lamas here we can get.
-Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.
-Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo
"Why are you so wary of thought?" said the philosopher. "Thought is the one tool we have for organizing the world."
"True. But thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it."
To his disciples he later said, "A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality."
-Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom
A group of political activists were attempting to show the Master how their ideology would change the world.
The Master listened carefully.
The following day he said, "An ideology is as good or bad as the people who make use of it. If a million wolves were to organize for justice, would they cease to be a million wolves?"
-Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
-William James, The Principles of Psychology
When things
don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point
fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat.
But it is
also easy to ask, "What is this teaching me?"
You can't remove the frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side.
-James Clear, from this edition
Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. "We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp," he writes. "Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions."
Virtue is something we do.
It's something we choose.
Not once, for Hercules's crossroads was not a singular event. It's a daily challenge, one we face not once but constantly, repeatedly. Will we be selfish or selfless? Brave or afraid? Strong or weak? Wise or stupid? Will we cultivate a good habit or a bad one? Courage or cowardice? The bliss of ignorance or the challenge of a new idea?
Stay the same . . . or grow?
The easy way or the right way?
-Ryan Holiday, Wisdom Takes Work
Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when they are young nor weary in the search when they have grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more.
-Epicurus, as cut-and-pasted from this letter
We want to know that the little things are little, and the big things are big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever—"in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for coordinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too. "To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust." We may be sure the if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. "Seek ye first the good things of the mind," Bacon admonishes us, "and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt." Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.
-Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
The following bits of wisdom were culled from here:
There are three Things extreamly hard, Steel, a Diamond and to know one’s self.
He is a Governor that governs his Passions, and he a Servant that serves them.
A Cypher and Humility make the other Figures and Virtues of ten fold Value.
If it were not for the Belly, the Back might wear Gold.
Wouldst thou confound thine Enemy, be good thy self.
Pride is as loud a Beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy.
Pay what you owe, and what you’re worth you’ll know.
Sorrow is good for nothing but Sin.
Many a Man thinks he is buying Pleasure, when he is really selling himself a Slave to it.
Tis hard (but glorious) to be poor and honest: An empty Sack can hardly stand upright; but if it does, ’tis a stout one!
He that can bear a Reproof, and mend by it, if he is not wise, is in a fair way of being so.
Sound, and sound Doctrine, may pass through a Ram’s Horn, and a Preacher, without straitening the one, or amending the other.
Clean your Finger, before you point at my Spots.
He that spills the Rum, loses that only; He that drinks it, often loses both that and himself.
Those that have much Business must have much Pardon.
Discontented Minds, and Fevers of the Body are not to be cured by changing Beds or Businesses.
Little Strokes, Fell great Oaks.
’Tis a Shame that your Family is an Honour to you! You ought to be an Honour to your Family.
Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.
What signifies knowing the Names, if you know not the Natures of Things.
Tim was so learned, that he could name a Horse in nine Languages; So ignorant, that he bought a Cow to ride on.
The Golden Age never was the present Age.
You may be too cunning for One, but not for All.
Genius without Education is like Silver in the Mine.
Many would live by their Wits, but break for want of Stock.
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