"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." (Aeschylus, cca. 5 century BC)
"The greatest virtue is to be prudent, and wisdom is to speak the truth and with understanding to act according to nature. (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [75.112], cca. 5th century)
"There is one wisdom, to understand how reason steers everything through everything." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [4.41], cca. 5th century)
"Can your learned head take leaven from the wisdom of your heart?" (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC
"Give up virtue, renounce wisdom;
people will benefit a thousand times.
Give up kindness, renounce morality,
people will embrace love and filial piety.
Give up cleverness, renounce greed,
bandits and thieves will vanish." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)
"If I had just a little bit of wisdom
I should walk the great path and fear only straying from it." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)
"Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment;
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)
"To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)
"True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.
True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)
"The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.” (Confucius, "Lunyu" ["The Analects"], [compilation] cca. 5th century BC)
"For the uncontrolled there is no wisdom, nor for the uncontrolled is there the power of concentration; and for him without concentration there is no peace. And for the unpeaceful, how can there be happiness?" (Bhagavad Gita, cca. 5th-2nd century BC)
"There's no wisdom from a man without harmony, and without harmony there is no contemplation. Without contemplation there cannot be peace, and without peace there can be no joy..." (Bhagavad Gita, cca. 5th-2nd century BC)
"Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)
"Subhuti, one who wishes to realize the enlightenment of a Hearer is to learn just this perfection of wisdom. Subhuti, one who wishes to realize the enlightenment of a Solitary Realizer is to learn just this perfection of wisdom. The Bodhisattva, the Great Being who wishes to realize the supreme perfect complete enlightenment, is also to learn just this perfection of wisdom." (Aṣhṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā ["The Eight Thousand StanzaPerfection of Wisdom Sutra"], cca. 100 BC - 1st century)
"All created things will pass away. When one achieves the wisdom to realize this, one may rise above this world of sorrow." (Gautama Buddha, "Dhammapada", cca 1st century)
"Ignorance does not exist apart from enlightenment; therefore, it cannot be destroyed [because one cannot destroy something which does not really exist], and yet it cannot not be destroyed [insofar as it remains]. This is like the relationship that exists between the water of the ocean [i.e., enlightenment] and its waves [i.e., modes of mind] stirred by the wind [i.e., ignorance]. Water and wind are inseparable; but water is not mobile by nature, and if the wind stops the movement ceases. But the wet nature remains undestroyed. Likewise, man's Mind, pure in its own nature, is stirred by the wind of ignorance. Both Mind and ignorance have no particular forms of their own and they are inseparable. Yet Mind is not mobile by nature, and if ignorance ceases, then the continuity of deluded activities ceases. But the essential nature of wisdom [i.e., the essence of Mind, like the wet nature of the water] remains undestroyed." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)
"Integral wisdom involves a direct participation in every moment: the observer and the observed are dissolved in the light of pure awareness, and no mental concepts or attitudes are present to dim that light." (Lao Tzu, [in Wang Fu's "Hua Hu Ching: The Teachings of Lao Tzu", cca. 4th century)
"Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)
"Because wisdom is innate, we can all enlighten ourselves." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)
"Before you think good or evil, who are you?" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)
"By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom. By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)
"Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp there is light; if there is no lamp there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)
"When all things are illumined by wisdom and there is neither grasping nor throwing away, then you can see your own nature and gain the Buddha Way." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)
"The destruction of evil depends on the purification of wisdom. The purification of wisdom depends on the purification of meditation. The purification of meditation depends on the purification of the monastic precepts. The Buddha possesses four kinds of positive methods for winning enlightenment. The first is the monastic precepts. The second is meditation. The third is wisdom. The fourth is a mind free of impurities." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"Thus the Truth it [Zen] teaches, both in substance and appearance, perfects the relationships of master and disciple. In its rules of action and discipline, there is no confusion of right and wrong. [...] Studying it, one discovers the key to all forms of Buddhism; practicing it, one's life is brought to fulfillment in the attainment of enlightenment. Outwardly it favors discipline over doctrine, inwardly it brings the Highest Inner Wisdom. This is what the Zen sect stands for." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"Bodhisattvas who study prajna-wisdom must first have deep compassion for all beings and a deep longing to save all of them. They must practice samadhi meditation with great care. Refusing to practice zazen only for their own emancipation, they must promise to ferry these sentient beings over to the other shore." (Dogen Zenji, "Zazen gi", cca. 13th century)
"Just sit as if you were the boundless empty sky or a ball of fire. Trust everything to the inhalation and exhalation. Even if eighty-four thousand idle thoughts arise, each and every one may become the Light of prajna (undiscriminating wisdom) if you do not pay them any attention and simply let them go." (Koun Ejo, "Komyozo-Zanmai" ["Samadhi of the Treasury of the Radiant Light", 13th century)
"What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms, and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)
"Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is a great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly." (Paracelsus, "De Occulta Philosophia" ["On the Occult Philosophy"], cca. 1530s)
"Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this, you will awaken from your dreams." (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)
"Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery." (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)
"Sincerity does not only complete the self; it is the means by which all things are completed. As the self is completed, there is human-heartedness; as things are completed, there is wisdom. This is the virtue of one's character, and the Way of joining the internal and external. Thus, when we use this, everything is correct." (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)
"To be satisfied with a little, is the greatest wisdom; and he that increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares; but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not." (Robert Dodsley, "The Economy of Human Life", 1750)
"Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and inpl lending one's self to the universal delusion without becoming its dupe." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [diary] 1872)
