Aphorisms Galore!

Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/kiytmq1q  ·  submitted 1999 by Erwin van Moll

I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities that I have visited, all my ancestors... Perhaps I would have liked to be my father, who wrote but has the decency of not publishing.

Jorge Luis Borges, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/bza7uu5d  ·  submitted 1999 by Erwin van Moll

My advanced age has taught me the resignation of being Borges.

Jorge Luis Borges, "El informe de Brodie", in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/inomue9p  ·  submitted 1999 by Erwin van Moll

There is no intellectual exercise which is not ultimately useless.

Jorge Luis Borges, "Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote", in Art and Literature and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/cxkiivxs  ·  submitted 1997

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/y7qkjsrf  ·  submitted 1997

Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.

R. I. Fitzhenry, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/sutptyxa  ·  submitted 1997

The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

Paul Fix, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/chnlsua0  ·  submitted 1997

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

Malcolm S. Forbes, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/hksesmq7  ·  submitted 1997

Education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.

Anatole France, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/yjcobkfn  ·  submitted 1997

No one gets too old to learn a new way of being stupid.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/tbra32py  ·  submitted 1997

Use soft words and hard arguments.

Unknown, in Success and Failure and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/kov3nzmi  ·  submitted 1997

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/pkfmdhte  ·  submitted 1997

When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage; when a sage attains knowledge, he is an ordinary man.

Unknown, (Zen saying), in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/loqr7ybp  ·  submitted 1997

Too clever is dumb.

Ogden Nash, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/as0knvco  ·  submitted 1997

Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/pxfadpln  ·  submitted 1997

Never give advice -- a wise man won't need it, a fool won't heed it.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/0elygtgv  ·  submitted 1997

Space (paperback)

An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

James Michener, Space, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/xz5aiowd  ·  submitted 1997

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh (hardcover)

I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.

A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/uxa3t4kn  ·  submitted 1999

Reality is something you rise above.

Liza Minnelli, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/daezmd7g  ·  submitted 1997

A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions.

Wilson Mizner, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/b1luxoq2  ·  submitted 1997

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.

Wilson Mizner, in Wisdom and Ignorance