Aphorisms Galore!

Wisdom and Ignorance

327 aphorisms  ·  10 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/dkwycxon  ·  submitted 1997

Clear writers assume, with a pessimism born of experience, that whatever isn't plainly stated the reader will invariably misconstrue.

John R. Trimble, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/3laiwzst  ·  submitted 1997

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Harry S Truman, in Wisdom and Ignorance

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/yxk2wmee  ·  submitted 1997

No one wants a good education, but everyone wants a good degree.

Lee Rudolph, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/sr7yv9lh  ·  submitted 1997

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

Bertrand Russell, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/pwfxhqlj  ·  submitted 1997

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

Bertrand Russell, in Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/9bdy4k6s  ·  submitted 1997

All thought is naught but a footnote to Plato.

George Santiano, 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