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/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/kteay1fd  ·  submitted 1997

Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/1teeow0f  ·  submitted 1997

Calvin and Hobbes (paperback)

Talking with you is sort of the conversational equivalent of an out of body experience.

Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/lt8nmg5i  ·  submitted 1997

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

H. G. Wells, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/icyaq4sy  ·  submitted 1997

Half a man's life is devoted to what he calls improvements, yet the original had some quality which is lost in the process.

E. B. White, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/1bm5oz9e  ·  submitted 1997

Education is an admirable thing, but nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Oscar Wilde, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/dflvnw5h  ·  submitted 1997

I was asked by the customs if I had anything to declare. I said: Yes, I'd like to declare -- I'm a genius!

Oscar Wilde, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/8dhiywlp  ·  submitted 1997

I am not young enough to know everything.

Oscar Wilde, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/jf8fhnam  ·  submitted 1997

It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Henry David Thoreau, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/wvfixygn  ·  submitted 1997

Occasionally, I have to think like myself to remember where I put something.

Sue S. Taylor, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/s2pjkz1e  ·  submitted 1997

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

Publilius Syrus, in Success and Failure and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/5hbi0ras  ·  submitted 1997

Bravery and stupidity go hand in hand.

David Summers, in Success and Failure and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/cu6vdywe  ·  submitted 1997

He who learns and runs away, lives to learn another day.

Edward Lee Thorndike, in Life and Death and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/e9njxakr  ·  submitted 1997

Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?

Kelvin Throop, III, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/hevntg1m  ·  submitted 1997

Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.

H. H. Williams, in Wisdom and Ignorance and Work and Recreation

tiny.ag/iurrlmux  ·  submitted 1997

I use not only all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.

Woodrow Wilson, in Wisdom and Ignorance