Sermon quotes on wisdom
Aristotle
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Augustine of Hippo
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Francis Bacon
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
John Calvin
True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.
Thomas Fuller
The fool wanders, a wise man travels.
Martin Luther
Sometimes the curses of the godless sound better than the hallelujahs of the pious.
John C. Maxwell
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
Reinhold Niebuhr
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
J.I. Packer
Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.
William Shakespeare
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
As You Like It
Charles Spurgeon
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.
Marilyn vos Savant
To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
Charles E. Fuller
To know the Word of God, to live the Word of God, to preach the Word, to teach the Word, is the sum of all wisdom, the heart of all Christian service.
Dallas Willard
The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes—a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power.
C.S. Lewis
No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.
Jen Wilkin
The most basic act of wisdom is repentance.
In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character, Crossway.
Robert Newton Peck
Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut.
C.S. Lewis
The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.
Thomas A Kempis
A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.
John Maxwell
Wise men of every age, when handed a difficult situation, don’t panic about the problem, but hold steady and say, “God is somewhere in this stable of life. There’s something I can learn. I’ll hold steady because God is somewhere in this.”
On This Holy Night, Thomas Nelson, 2013, p. 11.
Abraham Heschel
Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe.
Who Is Man? 1965
Bernard of Clairvaux
The man who is wise, therefore, will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal. The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives; the reservoir retains the water till it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself … Today there are many in the Church who act like canals, the reservoirs are far too rare … You too must learn to await this fullness before pouring out your gifts, do not try to be more generous than God.
On the Song of Songs
Charles Spurgeon
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.
Frederick Buechner
Even the saddest things can become, once we have made peace with them, a source of wisdom and strength for the journey that still lies ahead.
Bob Goff
There’s a difference between good judgment and living in judgment. The trick is to use lots of the first and to go a little lighter on the second.
Mark Twain
We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.
Following the Equator (1897)
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