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WINTER --- WISDOM

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see "NATURE" for related links
see "TIME" for related links


The English winter — ending in July,
To recommence in August.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
_Don Juan_ [1819-1824]

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member —
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, —
November!
--Thomas Hood (1799—1845)
English poet and humorist.
"No!" [1844]

Winter air is one of the things that can be still
without being stagnant. As a matter of fact, the
stiller it is the more it seems to tingle with life.
--Robert Lynd

There seems to be so much more
winter than we need this year.
--Kathleen Norris (1880—1966)
American author.
_Bread into Roses_ [1936]

-

"Ancient Music"
by Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
American expatriate poet and critic
(Parody of the 13th century "Cuckoo Song" - see SUMMER.)

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn yiu, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddam, DAMM.

-

A tedious season they await
Who hear November at the gate.
--Alexander Pushkin (1799—1837)
Russian poet.
"Eugene Onegin" [1833]

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_King Richard III_ [1592-1593], I. i. 1

O, Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
--Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822)
English poet.
"Ode to the West Wind" [1819]

Vermont has nine months of winter and three
months of damned poor sledding.
--Vermont saying

To shorten the winter, borrow some
money due in the spring.
--W.J. Vogel,
in Paul Dickson, comp. _The Official Explanations_ [1980].

We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No clouds above, no earth below, —
A universe of sky and snow!
--John Greenleaf Whittier (1807—1892)
American poet.
"Snow-Bound" [1866]



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WISDOM

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.

see "KNOWLEDGE" for related links


Amnesty, that noble word, the genuine dictate of wisdom.
--Aeschines (c.390—314? B.C.)
Athenian orator.

Memory is the mother of all wisdom.
--Aeschylus (525—456 B.C.)
Greek tragic dramatist.

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining
that thou has attained it thou art a fool.
--Rabbi Simon Ben Azzai
Jewish scholar of the second century.

Histories make men wise.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
"Of Studies" in _The Works af Francis Bacon_, [1825], v. 1, p.168

-

FROM THE NY TIMES MAGAZINE [9 March 1997] p.65:

Here's a story. A man went to a rabbi and asked,
"Rabbi, you're a wise man, how is it that you're wise?"

And the rabbi replied, "Study and hard work."

Then the man asked, "What made you study and work hard?"

And the Rabbi replied, "A lot of experience."

"And how'd you get a lot of experience?"

And the rabbi answered, "I had good judgment."

And the man then asked, "What gave you good judgment?"

And the Rabbi said, "A lot of bad experiences."

--Daniel Bell, 77, Sociologist

-

-

Whoso findeth me [wisdom] findeth life.
--Bible
"Proverbs" 8:35


Professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools.
--Bible
"Romans" 1:22 KJV

-

The road of excess leads to the palace of Wisdom.
--William Blake (1757—1827)
English poet.
_The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_" [1790-1793?] "Proverbs of Hell"

-

The Ten Cannots

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could
and should do for themselves.

--Rev. William John Henry Boetcker (1873—1962)
German-born American minister and author.

-

What the wise do in the beginning, fools
do in the end.
--Warren Buffett (1930— )
American businessman.

A proverb is a short sentence
based on long experience.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.

Be wiser than other people, if you can;
but do not tell them so.
--Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694—1773)
British writer and politician.
Letter to his son [19 November 1745].

A man who knows the world will not only make the most of
everything he does know, but of many things that he does
not know; and will gain more credit by his adroit mode of
hiding his ignorance than the pedant by his awkward
attempt to exhibit his erudition.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.

Defer not till to-morrow to be wise,
To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise.
--William Congreve (1670—1729)
English dramatist.
Letter to Cobham.

Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
--William Cowper (1731—1800)
English poet and hymnodist.
_The Task_ [1785] bk. 6 "Winter Walk at Noon", l. 96

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and
Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? Take fifty of our
current proverbial sayings — they are so trite, so threadbare, that we
can hardly bring our lips to utter them. None the less they embody
the concentrated experience of the race, and the man who orders
his life according to their teaching cannot go far wrong. How easy
that seems! Has any one ever done so? Never. Has any man ever
attained to inner harmony by pondering the experiences of others?
Not since the world began! He must pass through the fire.
--Norman Douglas (1868—1952)
Austrian-born British novelist and essayist.
_South Wind_ [1917], ch.13

Wisdom is avoiding all thoughts that
weaken you.
--Wayne Dyer
American self-help guru.

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
once they exhausted all other alternatives.
--Abba Eban [Aubrey Solomon] (1915—2002)
Foreign minister of Israel [1966—1974].
Speech in London [16 December 1970].

The hard soil and four months of snow make the
inhabitiant of the northern temperate zones wiser
and abler than the fellow who enjoys the fixed
smile of the tropics.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"Prudence" _Essays_, First Series [1841]


To finish the moment, to find the journey's end
in every step of the road, to live the greatest
number of good hours, is wisdom.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"Experience" _Essays_, Second Series [1844]

-

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which
he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
--Epictetus (55—135)
Greek philosopher.
_Fragment_ #129, tr. George Long [1890]

The end of wisdom is to dream high enough
to lose the dream in the seeking of it.
--William Faulkner (1897—1962)
American novelist.

-

Tim was so learned, that he could name a Horse
in nine Languages. So ignorant that he bought
a Cow to ride on.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [1750]


Where Sense is wanting, every thing is wanting.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [1754]


Who is wise? He that learns from everyone.
Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions.
Who is rich? He that is content.
Who is that? Nobody.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [July 1755]

& note:

Not a tenth Part of this Wisdom was my own . . .,
but rather the Gleanings I had made of the Sense
of all Ages and Nations.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
(On the sayings and maxims, in his _Poor Richard's Almanack_,
"The Way to Wealth" [7 July 1757]. Between 1733 and 1758,
Franklin published 1044 sayings in his _Almanacks_. He drew
them mostly from several popular collections of sayings published
in England during the previos 100 years. While modifying and
polishing many, he himself, according to Wolgang Mieder (editor
of _Dictionary of American Proverbs_, 1991), coined no more
than 20 of the sayings. - Q)

-

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too
proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too self-ful to
seek other than itself.
--Kahlil Gibran (1883—1931)
Lebanese poet.
_Sand and Foam_ [1926]

Bromidic though it may sound, some questions
*don't* have answers, which is a terribly
difficult lesson to learn.
--Katharine Graham (1917—2001)
American publisher.
Quoted by Jane Howard in "Ms." magazine [October 1974].

The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain
And simple to express:
Err
And err
And err again
But less
And less
And less.
--Piet Hein (1905—1996)
Danish poet and mathematician.

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.
--Hermann Hesse (1877—1962)
German novelist, poet, and winner of the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.
_Siddhartha_ [1922], Ch. 2

It is the province of knowledge to speak, and
it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809—1894)
American physician, poet, and essayist.
_The Poet at the Breakfast-Table_ [1872]

Some are wise, and some are otherwise.
--James Howell (1593—1666)
British writer.
_Paroimiographia: Proverbs, or Old Sayed Sawes and Adages_ [1659]

Every man is a dam fool for at least ten minutes a
day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
--Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915)
American editor, publisher, and author who
died in the sinking of the "Lusitania."
"The Philistine" magazine, published [1895—1915],
this entry from vol. 29 [1909].

Caution is the eldest child of wisdom.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.

Ours is a world in which knowledge accumulates
and wisdom decays.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist {grandson of T.H. Huxley}.
"Censorship and Spoken Literature" in
_Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Other Essays_ [1956].

No man is ever old enough to know better.
--Holbrook Jackson (1874—1948)
British journalist, writer, and publisher.

The art of being wise is the art of
knowing what to overlook.
--William James (1842—1910)
American philosopher.
_The Principles of Psychology_ [1890]

The wise know too well their weakness to
assume infallibility; and he who knows most,
knows best how little he knows.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
In a legal brief [31 July 1810].

An egoist can be won over by being respected, a crazy person can
be won over by allowing him to behave in an insane manner and a
wise person can be won over by truth.
--Kautilya {also called Canakya, or Visnugupta}
(c.350—c.275 BC) Hindu statesman and philosopher.

The most pathetic person in the world is
someone who has sight but has no vision.
--Helen Keller (1880—1968)
American author and educator who was blind and deaf.
In "Webster's Electronic Quotebase,"
ed. Keith Mohler [1994].

-

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.


It is easier to be wise for others than for oneself.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_ [1665], #132, tr. Louis Kronenberger [1959]

-

It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something
stupid to say and say the opposite.
--Sam Levenson (1911—1980)
American humorist.

It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; the
music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
--Walter Lippmann (1889—1974)
American journalist.
_A Preface to Morals_ [1929]

From the earliest times, the old have rubbed it into the
young that they are wiser than they, and before the young
have discoverd what nonsense this was they were old too,
and it profited them to carry on the imposture.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.

It is not white hair that engenders wisdom.
--Menander (343?—291 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.
Unidentified fragment 639

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar
doctrine that age brings wisdom.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
_Prejudices: Third Series_ [1922], ch. 3

-

We can be knowledgeable with other men's
knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other
men's wisdom.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.


Wisdom hath her excesses, and no less need of moderation than folly.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
_Essais_ (Essays) {94 chapters written 1571-1580 & published 1580;
the last 13 chapters were written 1585-1587 & published 1588 },
bk. 3, ch. 5 "Upon some Verses of Virgil."


A wise man sees as much as he ought,
not as much as he can.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.

-

I know not what I may appear to the world, but to
myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing
on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and
then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell
than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay
all undiscovered before me.
--Sir Isaac Newton (1642—1727)
English mathematician and physicist.
Quoted in David Brewster _Memoirs of Newton_.

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things
that cannot be changed, courage to change the things
which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
--Reinhold Niebuhr (1892—1971)
American theologian.
_The Serenity Prayer_ [1934]

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent
than the one that went before it and wiser than the
one that comes after it.
--George Orwell [Eric Blair] (1903—1950)
English novelist.
_The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell_
ed. Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus [1968].

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment the treasurer
of a wise man. He that has more knowledge than
judgment is made for another man's use more
than his own.
--William Penn (1644—1718)
Quaker leader and advocate of religious
freedom who oversaw the founding of
the American Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers
and other religious minorities of Europe {E.B.}.
_Some Fruits of Solitude_ [1693]

-

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able
to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Plato (427?—347 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.


Wise men talk because they have something to say:
fools because they have to say something.
--Plato (427?—347 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.

-

What is it to be wise?
'Tis but to know how little can be known
To see all others' faults
And feel our own.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.
_Essay on Man_ [1734]

From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.

Most people would sooner die than think;
in fact, they do so.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one,
no less wise, to balance it.
--George Santayana (1863—1952)
Spanish-born philosopher and critic.

You must not quote to me what I
once said. I am wiser now.
--Romy Schneider (1938—1982)
Austrian actress.

-

If wisdom were offered me with the proviso
that I should keep it shut up and refrain from
declaring it, I should refuse. There's no
delight in owning anything unshared.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
_Letters to Lucilius_


Many men would have arrived at wisdom had they not
believed themselves to have arrived there already.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
"Of Peace of Mind" _Minor Dialogues_ tr. Aubrey Stewart [1889]


The Wise Man can receive neither Injury nor Insult.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
"On the Firmness of the Wise Man"
_Moral Essays_ tr. John W. Basore [1928]

-

-

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise
man knows himself to be a fool.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_As You Like It_ [1599], V, 1, 35


Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Romeo and Juliet_ [1595-1596], act II, sc. iii, l. 94


Speak of them as they are; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice; then you must speak
Of one that lov'd not wisely, but too well.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Othello_ [1604-1605], V, ii, 343

-

Remember that in all miseries lamenting
becomes fools, and action, wise folk.
--Sir Philip Sidney (1554—1586)
English soldier, poet, and courtier.

But the desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches,
increases ever with the acquisition of it.
--Laurence Sterne (1713—1768)
English novelist.
_Tristram Shandy_ [1760], bk. II, ch. 3

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has
been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other
words, that he is wiser today than yesterday.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.

When I can look at Life with eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise;
Life will have given me the Truth,
And taken in exchange — my youth.
--Sara Teasdale (1884—1933)
American poet.
Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1918.
_Dark of the Moon_ [1926] "Wisdom"

History and philosophy are the two eyes of wisdom,
and if one is missing, then one has only half vision.
--Christian Thomasius (1655—1728)
German law professor at Halle University.
In Donald R. Kelley _Faces of History_ [1998], p.244.

Colors fade, temples crumble, empires
fall, but wise words endure.
--Edward Thorndike (1874—1949)
American educator and psychologist.

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is
a great fool.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
_Le Droit du Seigneur_, Act IV, Scene i

I am not young enough to know everything.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.

It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.
--Xenophanes (c. 560—478 B.C.),
Greek philosopher and poet.
In Diogenes Laertius _Lives of Eminent Philosophers_, bk. IX.

-

I guess if I was smarter I'd see
everything your way.
--Will and the Bushmen,
lyric, 500 Miles [1986 song].

Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog,
a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise.
--Welsh Proverb

--

The strong young man at the construction site
was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a
feat of strength. He made a special case of
making fun of one of the older workmen. After
several minutes, the older worker had had
enough.

"Why don't you put your money where your
mouth is," he said. "I will bet a week's wages
that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow
over to that outbuilding that you won't be
able to wheel back."

"You're on, old man," the braggart replied.
"Let's see what you got."

The old man reached out and grabbed the
wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding
to the young man, he said, "All right. Get in."

-----

adage [AD-ij], noun:
An old saying, which has obtained credit
by long use; a proverb.
Synonyms: aphorism, proverb, saw, saying

apothegm (noun) ['ζ-pκ-them]
A terse saying that sums up a philosophical insight or conclusion;
a maxim, an aphorism. A short, witty, and instructive saying.
Synonyms: adage, aphorism, maxim, proverb, saw.
Ex.: The rare talent of compressing a mass of profound thought into an apophthegm.
--Henry Hart Milman, _The History of Latin Christianity_

gnomic [NOH-mik], adjective:
Uttering, containing, or characterized
by maxims; wise and pithy.

judicious (adj.) [ju-'di-shκs]
Wise in a particular instance, showing sound judgement.
"Judiciously" is the adjective and "judiciousness," the
noun. The near synonym, "prudent," implies judicious
restraint.

perspicacity (noun) [pκr-spκ-'kζ-si-ti]
The ability to see things clearly and make sound
judgements based on that vision.

sagacious (adj.) [sκ-'gey-shκs]
Having keen mental powers, shrewd,
sound in judgment, extremely wise.

sapient (adj.) ['sey-pi-yκnt]
Possessed of notable wisdom; sagacious
to the point of prescience.


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| UGLY - UNICORNS | UNHAPPINESS | UNIONS - USELESS | VACATION - VENGENCE | VENICE - VICTORY | VIGILANCE - VIRGINITY | VIRTUE - VULGARITY | WAGES - WAR & PEACE | WAR (THE CIVIL) - WAR (THE REVOLUTIONARY) | WAR (THOUGHTS ABOUT) - PAGE 1 (A-M) | WAR (THOUGHTS ABOUT) - PAGE 2 (N-Z) | WAR (VIETNAM) | WAR (WORLD WAR I) | WAR (WORLD WAR II) PAGE 1 (A-M) | WAR (WORLD WAR II) PAGE 2 (N-Z) | WASHINGTON (D.C.) - WEAK/WEAKNESS | WEALTH - WEASELS | WEATHER - WELLS (H.G.) | WEST (THE OLD/WILD) - WILDE (OSCAR) | WILL - WINNING | WINTER - WISDOM | WISHING - WIVES | WOMEN - WOMEN'S LIB | WOMEN'S RIGHTS - WORDS | WORK - WORLD | WORLD TRADE CENTER & PENTAGON DISASTER, 11 SEPTEMB | WORRY - WRONG | WRITING | YESTERDAY - ZOOS |
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