Aphorisms Galore!

Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/r0a9zwmr  ·  submitted 1997

In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.

Mark Twain, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/byjgwlzg  ·  submitted 1997

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

Mark Twain, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/uvmow3r4  ·  submitted 1997

Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.

Mark Van Doren, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/svogwyfm  ·  submitted 1997

Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.

Edgard Varese, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/t9jmvbpa  ·  submitted 1997

A witty saying proves nothing.

Voltaire, in Success and Failure and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/hcrgr6oa  ·  submitted 1997

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.

Voltaire, in Art and Literature and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/juocdkwi  ·  submitted 1997

Ordinary people know little of the time and effort it takes to learn to read. I have been eighty years at it, and have not reached my goal.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/r2oe16bv  ·  submitted 1997

He is winding the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.

William Shakespeare, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/dyhkrulm  ·  submitted 1997

Major writing is to say what has been seen, so that it need never be said again.

Delmore Schwartz, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/o4053hxu  ·  submitted 1997

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.

E. F. Schumacher, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ldizacqu  ·  submitted 1997

Foundation (paperback)

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov, Foundation (Salvor Hardin), in War and Peace and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/6qzazlkw  ·  submitted 1997

Silence is argument carried out by other means.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ccrfqs3v  ·  submitted 1997

I'm more like I am now than I ever was before.

Greg, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/wh6qtopk  ·  submitted 1997

I improve on misquotation.

Cary Grant, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/5jqhurzz  ·  submitted 1997

Look to the past for guidance into the future.

Robert Jacob Goodkin, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ufko7fwv  ·  submitted 1997

I do not know myself and God forbid that I should.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/z0pv1omm  ·  submitted 1997

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.

Gail Godwin, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/1bbjwdu7  ·  submitted 1997

No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern; no idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated.

Ellen Glasgow, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/wf0milq1  ·  submitted 1997

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/sr7yv9lh  ·  submitted 1997

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

Bertrand Russell, in Wisdom and Ignorance