Aphorisms Galore!

Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/yfqykgpj  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the fool their lack of understanding.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/2ljggwxr  ·  submitted 1997

Four Plays by Aristophanes (paperback)

The wise learn many things from their enemies.

Aristophanes, The Birds, 414 B.C., in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/dc6pcq9o  ·  submitted 1997

All men naturally desire knowledge.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/6wydulw8  ·  submitted 1997

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/khtxcyl0  ·  submitted 1997

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/q2cvf8pi  ·  submitted 1997

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/6lar7dwe  ·  submitted 1997

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/oujwgybq  ·  submitted 1997

Wit is educated insolence.

Aristotle, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/hfx4m7bz  ·  submitted 1998 by David Shorr

The Satyricon (paperback)

Wisdom and beauty form a very rare combination

Petronius Arbiter, The Satyricon, XCIV, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/viymqgdo  ·  submitted 1997

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am."

Ambrose Bierce, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/wirqwxvl  ·  submitted 1997

Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.

Ambrose Bierce, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ypvm5zmk  ·  submitted 1997

You can observe a lot by watching.

Yogi Berra, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/mchnry1s  ·  submitted 1997

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

Saul Bellow, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/z91tc0go  ·  submitted 1997

It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/hurfcg6j  ·  submitted 1997

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.

Hector Berlioz, in Life and Death and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/b3ohbca1  ·  submitted 1998

He who spends his time reading aphorisms of another to have one of his own, has no time or brains to have any of his own.

M. Bernheisel, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/l0kufav6  ·  submitted 1997

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Yogi Berra, 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/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/uvmow3r4  ·  submitted 1997

Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.

Mark Van Doren, in Wisdom and Ignorance