Of Carroll's essay Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing; p. 18
M. N. Cohen & E. Wakeling, Lewis Carroll and his Illustrators (2003)
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.”
Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0142
Sunni Hadith
Context: It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger of Allah observed: O womenfolk, you should give charity and ask much forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell. A wise lady among them said: Why is it, Messenger of Allah, that our folk is in bulk in Hell? Upon this the Holy Prophet observed: You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. I have seen none lacking in common sense and failing in religion but (at the same time) robbing the wisdom of the wise, besides you. Upon this the woman remarked: What is wrong with our common sense and with religion? He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Your lack of common sense (can be well judged from the fact) that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion. This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Tahir with this chain of transmitters.
Source: Time Must Have a Stop (1944), Chapter XXX, Character Bruno Rontini
The Novel: What It Is (1893)
“Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.”
Siddhartha (1922)
Context: Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is appreciation. Go find somebody's hand and squeeze it, while there's time.”
Cited in: Colleen Zuck etal. (2002) Daily Word for Families, p. 167
“Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.”
“The wise through excess of wisdom is made a fool.”
Experience
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
