“Wit and wisdom are born with a man.”

—  John Selden

Learning.
Table Talk (1689)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Wit and wisdom are born with a man." by John Selden?
John Selden photo
John Selden 28
English jurist and scholar of England's ancient laws and co… 1584–1654

Related quotes

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell photo

“[A proverb is] one man's wit, and all men's wisdom.”

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions

Remark to James Mackintosh on October 6, 1830, reported in his posthumous memoir, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. 2 (1836), p. 472 http://books.google.com/books?id=wHM4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22one+man's+wit+and+all+men's+wisdom%22&pg=PA472#v=onepage
Variant: [A proverb is] the wisdom of many and the wit of one.

“An epigram is the marriage of wit, and wisdom; a wisecrack, their divorce.”

Evan Esar (1899–1995) American writer

20,000 Quips and Quotes (1968)

Robert E. Howard photo

“Wits and swords are as straws against the wisdom of the Darkness…”

Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) American author

"The Phoenix on the Sword" (1932)

Novalis photo

“Philosophy … bears witness to the deepest love of reflection, to absolute delight in wisdom.”

Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer

“Logological Fragments,” Philosophical Writings, M. Stolijar, trans. (Albany: 1997) #12

Thomas Fuller (writer) photo

“3031. It is Wit to pick a Lock, and steal a Horse; but it is Wisdom to let it alone.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1735) : The cunning man steals a horse, the wise man lets him alone.
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

Edward Gibbon photo

“Wit and valor are qualities that are more easily ascertained than virtue, or the love of wisdom.”

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament

Vol. 1, Chap. 1.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)

Martin Luther photo

“Religion is not 'doctrinal knowledge,' but wisdom born of personal experience.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Holborn, Hajo; A HISTORY OF MODERN GERMANY: The Reformation; 1959/1982 Princeton university Press

Gautama Buddha photo

“Indeed, wisdom is born of meditation; without meditation wisdom is lost. Knowing this twofold path of gain and loss of wisdom, one should conduct oneself so that wisdom may increase.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Source: Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), Dhammapada, Ch. 20, Verse 282

Thomas Browne photo

“Who will not commend the wit of astrology? Venus, born out of the sea, hath her exaltation in Pisces.”

Thomas Browne (1605–1682) English polymath

Commonplace notebooks, Part I

Related topics