“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”

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Francis Bacon 295
English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and auth… 1561–1626

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“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

1: 17 - 31 (KJV) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%201&version=SBLGNT;KJV
First Epistle to the Corinthians
Context: Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

“Loving one another is half of wisdom.”

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“They are periods when the wisdom of the wise is confounded and the prudence of the prudent turned into a laughing-stock….”

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Context: There are periods in the history of the world when the unseen Power that guides its destinies seems to be filled with a consuming passion for change and a strong impatience of the old. The Great Mother, the Adya Shakti, has resolved to take the nations into Her hand and shape them anew. These are periods of rapid destruction and energetic creation, filled with the sound of cannon and the trampling of armies, the crash of great downfalls, and the turmoil of swift and violent revolutions; the world is thrown into the smelting pot and comes out in a new shape and with new features. They are periods when the wisdom of the wise is confounded and the prudence of the prudent turned into a laughing-stock....

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“Half of wisdom is learning what to unlearn.”

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“Being cheerful and affable with people is by itself half of wisdom.”

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“Ere now a simple tiller of the soil
Hath spoken words of wisdom to mankind;
A cloak all tattered and besmirched with toil
Hath ofttimes clothed a man of prudent mind.”

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Ha qualche volta un ortolan parlato
Cose molte a proposito a la gente;
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Molte volte coperto un uom prudente.
LVIII, 1
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“A creature who is half an idiot, but who keeps a sharp look-out, and acts prudently all his life, often enjoys the pleasure of triumphing over men of imagination.”

Un être à demi stupide, mais attentif, mais prudent tous les jours, goûte très-souvent le plaisir de triompher des hommes à imagination.
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“To ask the proper question is half of knowing.”
Prudens quaestio dimidium scientiae.

Roger Bacon (1220–1292) medieval philosopher and theologian

Cited in: LIFE, 8 sept 1958, p. 73
Variant translation: Half of science is asking the right questions.

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