Aphorisms Galore!

Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/7vrvn3zw  ·  submitted 1997

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.

George Bernard Shaw, 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/hk1fnrrg  ·  submitted 1997

The less you know, the more you think you know, because you don't know you don't know.

Ray Stevens, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/ef1mcjvo  ·  submitted 1997

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.

Robert Louis Stevenson, 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/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/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/egvuw4ni  ·  submitted 1997

Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.

Robert G. Ingersoll, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/1jtdasvn  ·  submitted 1997

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Thomas Jefferson, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/23goyhuk  ·  submitted 1997

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

William James, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/jdfanm7k  ·  submitted 1998

Lately I've found that if it weren't for stereotypes, conversation would be much more difficult for the closed-minded.

Morgan Ivy, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/bague6sg  ·  submitted 1997

A great teacher never strives to explain his vision. He simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

R. Inman, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/zwsbjgio  ·  submitted 1997

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says: "I'll try again tomorrow."

Anne Hunninghake, in Wisdom and Ignorance