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Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/g8ncpo30  ·  submitted 1997

A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody has read.

Mark Twain, in Art and Literature and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ahogqesm  ·  submitted 1997

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

Mark Twain, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/bucadpxy  ·  submitted 1997

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said, "I don't know."

Mark Twain, in Wisdom and Ignorance

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/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/4mch5yty  ·  submitted 1997

I'm always fascinated by the way memory diffuses fact.

Diane Sawyer, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/mgn8bwur  ·  submitted 1997

With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.

Friedrich von Schiller, 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/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/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/7vrvn3zw  ·  submitted 1997

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.

George Bernard Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/gbu74gqh  ·  submitted 1997

Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life.

George Bernard Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/zsy8hdo3  ·  submitted 1997

My father must have had some elementary education, for he could read and write and keep accounts inaccurately.

George Bernard Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/tde4qweo  ·  submitted 1997

The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time.

George Bernard Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/spdfyk43  ·  submitted 1997

Advice is like kissing. It costs nothing and is a pleasant thing to do.

H. W. Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/yzyptgt2  ·  submitted 1997

The world's greatest heroes are the world's greatest fuck-ups.

Stacy Shaw, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/aj3tzjw2  ·  submitted 1997

Sometimes a whisper speaks volumes.

Scott Sheddan, in Wisdom and Ignorance