“Wisdom is not just weighing what is good and what is bad. Wisdom also looks at the consequences of the decisions it makes. The more severe the consequences, the greater the demands on wisdom to make the right decision.”

Last update Nov. 30, 2023. History

James D. Mooney (1884–1957) American businessman

Source: Onward Industry!, 1931, p. 66

“Our recent decisions make plain that we do not sit as a super-legislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation nor to decide whether the policy which it expresses offends the public welfare.”

William O. Douglas (1898–1980) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Writing for the court, Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. v. Missouri, 342 U.S. 421 (1952)
Judicial opinions

“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.”

Norman Cousins (1915–1990) American journalist

15 April 1978.
Saturday Review

“Wisdom is not the understanding of mystery. Wisdom is accepting that mystery is beyond understanding. That's what makes it mystery.”

Gregory Maguire book Son of a Witch

Source: Son of a Witch

“Acting the law we live by without fear;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Oenone

"Oenone", st. 14
Context: Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
Yet not for power (power of herself
Would come uncall'd for) but to live by law,
Acting the law we live by without fear;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.

“Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values.”

Sidney Hook (1902–1989) American philosopher