“To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom.”

— Edith Wharton

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Edith Wharton 103

American novelist, short story writer, designer 1862–1937

Mary Stewart book The Last Enchantment

Source: The Last Enchantment

“Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

“When you know that the snake is in you – that's wisdom.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Other

“The beginning of wisdom, as they say. When you're seventeen you know everything. When you're twenty-seven if you still know everything you're still seventeen.”

Ray Bradbury book Dandelion Wine

Source: Dandelion Wine (1957), p. 142
Context: “I don’t know,” he admitted.
“Well.” She started pouring tea. “To start things off, what do you think of the world?”
“I don’t know anything.”
“The beginning of wisdom, as they say. When you’re seventeen you know everything. When you’re twenty-seven if you still know everything you’re still seventeen.”
“You seem to have learned quite a lot over the years.”
“It is the privilege of old people to seem to know everything. But it’s an act and a mask, like every other act and mask. Between ourselves, we old ones wink at each other and smile, saying, How do you like my mask, my act, my certainty? Isn’t life a play? Don’t I play it well?”
They both laughed quietly.