Gondibert (1650), Book ii. Canto v. Stanza 37.
“Society speaks and all men listen, mountains speak and wise men listen.”
John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author
Frequently attributed to Muir without source. An extensive search of Muir's published and unpublished writings found several sharp and cogent observations concerning society (see above) but not this one.
Misattributed
“The wise men were all fools, what to do?”
Bruce Springsteen (1949) American singer and songwriter
"Last to Die"
Song lyrics, Magic (2007)
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Life of Marcus Cato
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
“Let us be wise, and not impede the soul.”
Margaret Fuller book Woman in the Nineteenth Century
Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Context: What I mean by the Muse is that unimpeded clearness of the intuitive powers, which a perfectly truthful adherence to every admonition of the higher instincts would bring to a finely organized human being. It may appear as prophecy or as poesy. … and should these faculties have free play, I believe they will open new, deeper and purer sources of joyous inspiration than have as yet refreshed the earth.
Let us be wise, and not impede the soul. Let her work as she will. Let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. Let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white.
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Source: The Doctrine of the Mean
“Action men are the unvoluntary slaves of wise men.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid.
The Book of Disquiet
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Uses of Great Men,”
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
“Both men were aware of the imperative held by all warrior races to serve honor before survival.”
Steven Pressfield book Last of the Amazons
Mother Bones (Narrator) p. 10
Last of the Amazons (2002)
