Quotes about sage

“Non-action is unceasing activity. The sage is characterized by eternal and intense activity. His stillness is like the apparent stillness of a fast rotating gyroscope.”

Source: Bloodlines

Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian religious leader

In reference to an excerpt - "by his non-action, the sage governs all" - from Lao Tze's Tao Te Ching.
Abide as the Self

“This was the truest warrior
That ever buckled sword;
This the most gifted poet
That ever breathed a word;
And never earth’s philosopher
Traced with his golden pen
On the deathless page truths half so sage
As he wrote down for men.”

Cecil Frances Alexander (1818–1895) British hymn-writer and poet

Hymn: The Burial of Moses http://www.bethanyipc.org.sg/poems/bulletin080113.htm

Men, Truth

“Therefore the Sage embraces the One,
And becomes the model of the world.
He does not reveal himself,
And is therefore luminous.
He does not justify himself,
And is therefore far-famed.
He does not boast himself,
And therefore people give him credit.
He does not pride himself,
And is therefore the ruler among men.
It is because he does not contend
That no one in the world can contend against him.”

Laozi book Tao Te Ching

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 22, as translated by Lin Yutang (1948)

Men, People, World

“Again: If one State may secede, so may another; and when all shall have seceded none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? Did we notify them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed their money? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others choose to go or to extort terms upon which they will promise to remain.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)

Money, Peace

“How the Ganges water reaches the various planets from the top of the universe is explained herein. Celestial airplanes carry the water from the planets of the sages to other planets. So-called advanced scientists of the modern age are trying to go to the higher planets, but at the same time they are experiencing a power shortage on earth. If they were actually capable scientists, they could personally go by airplane to other planets, but this they are unable to do. Having now given up their Moon excursions, they are attempting to go to other planets, but without success.”

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) Indian guru

Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1999. Canto 5, Chapter 17, verse 4, purport. Vedabase http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/5/17/4 <br class="br">Quotes from Books: Loving God, Quotes from Books: Regression of Science

Age, Universe, Water, Time

“I can now say: All the sages of Israel are in my estimation like a garlic peel.”

Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) Ukrainian rabbi

Attributed

“[The career a young man should choose should be] one that is most consonant with our dignity, one that is based on ideas of whose truth we are wholly convinced, one that offers us largest scope in working for humanity and approaching that general goal towards which each profession offers only one of the means: the goal of perfection … If he works only for himself he can become a famous scholar, a great sage, an excellent imaginative writer [Dichter], but never a perfected, a truly great man.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

in Karl Marx and World Literature (1976) by S. S. Prawer, p. 2.
Reflections of a Youth on Choosing an Occupation (1835)

Truth, Imagination, Idea, Perfection

“In the ancient notion of love, on the other hand, there is an element of anxiety. The noble fears the descent to the less noble, is afraid of being infected and pulled down. The “sage” of antiquity does not have the same firmness, the same inner certainty of himself and his own value, as the genius and hero of Christian love.”

Max Scheler (1874–1928) German philosopher

Source: Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912), L. Coser, trans. (1961), p. 92

Love, Fear

“You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.”

Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher

Context: How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home? Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears. How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life? One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.

Dreams, Night

“It would be necessary that they should be already sages to love wisdom: a truth that was felt at once by him to whom philosophy owes its name.”

Friedrich Schiller book On the Aesthetic Education of Man

Letter 8; Variant: They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom.
On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)
Context: They have founded the whole structure of their happiness on these very illusions, which ought to be combated and dissipated by the light of knowledge, and they would think they were paying too dearly for a truth which begins by robbing them of all that has value in their sight. It would be necessary that they should be already sages to love wisdom: a truth that was felt at once by him to whom philosophy owes its name.

Love, Wisdom, Truth

“It could and must, be explained that in the civil war we destroyed the White Guards in order that they should not destroy the workers. Consequently, our problem is not the destruction of human life, but its preservation. But as we have to struggle for the preservation of human life with arms in our hands, it leads to the destruction of human life - a puzzle the dialectical secret of which was explained by old Hegel, without reckoning other still more ancient sages.”

Leon Trotsky book Terrorism and Communism

Source: Terrorism and Communism (1920), Chapter three, p. 53

Life, War, Secret, Problem

“Can you come over to Amberwood? I need you to help me break curfew and escape my dorm.”
There were a few moments of silence. “Sage, I’ve been waiting two months to hear you say those words. You want me to bring a ladder?”

“Advice,” chuckled Doña Vorchenza. “The years play a sort of alchemical trick, transmuting one’s mutterings to a state of respectability. Give advice at forty and you’re a nag. Give it at seventy and you’re a sage.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Silence, Waiting, Help

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), Chapter 9 “A Curious Tale for Countess Amberglass” section 1 (p. 433)

“Speaking of Sonya… I was thinking of something earlier. Something Wolfe said."

"Why, Adrian. Were you paying attention after all?"

"Don't start, Sage," he warned.(p 211)”

“Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.”

Source: The Golden Lily

Thinking, Wolf

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

Books, Faith

“My god, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them? When you stand in the light. They're amazing… like molten gold. I could paint those… They're beautiful. You're beautiful.”

“Sage,” Adrian declared. “These hands don’t do manual labor.”

Source: Bloodlines

God, Beauty, Light, Painting

“Sydney Katherine Sage,” he said, his green eyes full of love and earnestness. “Would you do a brooding, deadbeat Moroi the honor of being his wife?”

Source: Bloodlines

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

Love

“A new friend is always a miracle, but at thirty-three years old, such a bird of paradise rising in the sage-brush was an avatar. One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.”

Henry Adams book The Education of Henry Adams

Source: The Education of Henry Adams

Bird

“SAGE. A wise and Holy man who died a long time ago. No one modern qualifies.”

Diana Wynne Jones book The Tough Guide To Fantasyland

Source: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Time

“Sage," he said. "What are you wearing?"
I sighed and stared down at the dress. "I know. It's red. Don't start. I'm tired of hearing about it."
"Funny," he said. "I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at it.”

“To paraphrase several sages: Nobody can think and hit someone at the same time.”

Source: The Golden Lily

Thinking

Susan Sontag Regarding the Pain of Others

Source: Regarding the Pain of Others

Thinking, Time

“Note even Moroi give licenses to infants, Sage”

“It’s Kahlua, Sage. Packed with sugar and coffee flavor.”

Source: The Golden Lily

“Look, Sage. I don't know much about chemistry or computer hacking or photosynthery, but this is something I've got a lot of experience with." I think he mean photosynthesis, but I didn't correct him. "Use my knowledge. Don't let it go to waste.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Coffee

“But perhaps the best part of all was that I, Sydney Katherine Sage, guilty of constantly analyzing the world around me, well, I stopped thinking.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Knowledge, Thinking

“If time and space, as sages say,
Are things which cannot be,
The sun which does not feel decay
No greater is than we.
So why, Love, should we ever pray
To live a century?
The butterfly that lives a day
Has lived eternity.”

Source: The Golden Lily

World, Thinking, Parting

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Love, Feeling, Time, Sun

“He shook his head in mock sympathy. "I tell you, Sage. Sometimes I think I am the one who needs to take out the restraining order on you.”

“I don’t know, Sage. You threw yourself in the line of pepper spray for me. You must like me just a little bit.” “I— I figured it’d be a shame to ruin your pretty face,” I stammered.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Thinking

“In my childhood I led the life of a sage, when I grew up I started climbing trees”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Philip Roth book The Ghost Writer

Source: The Ghost Writer

Life, Tree, Childhood

“Who knows more about male weakness: you or me? Use my knowledge, Sage.”

“Sage.” He laughed. “I’m into anything, so long as you’re with me.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Knowledge

“Oh my God, I thought. I’m rooming with the Sydney Sage of re-education.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

God, Education

“But each time you use spirit, you're more likely to go crazy.”
“Already crazy about you, Sage.”

“Of course they didn't give us this much, Sage. But I had to make sure I nailed my first assignment. Takes a lot of tries before you hit perfection." He paused to reconsider that. "Well, except for my parents. They got it on the first try.”

Source: The Indigo Spell

Time

“You’re a solid person, Sage. You’re easy on the eyes, if a little skinny, and your ability to memorize useless information is going to totally hook in some guy.”

Source: Bloodlines

Parent, Perfection

“Why would you do that? Why would you act like you didn't know how to drive?"
"Isn't it obvious, Sage? No, of course it isn't. I did it so I'd have a reason to be around you - one I knew you couldn't refuse”

Source: Bloodlines

Guy, Personality

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

“Did you just use juxtaposition in a sentence?"
"Yes, Sage" he said patiently. "We use it all the time with art,… That, and I know how to use a dictionary”

“Isn’t it obvious, Sage? No, of course it isn’t. I did it so I’d have a reason to be around you — one I knew you couldn’t refuse.”

Source: The Golden Lily

Art, Time

“What about you, Sage? I know we don't have to worry about you violating the dress code. Did you have fun at your Alchemist spa this weekend?”

Source: The Golden Lily

“Titchy little snapperwhippers like you should not be higgling around with an old sage and onions who is hundreds of years more than you.”

Source: The Golden Lily

Roald Dahl The BFG

Source: The BFG

“One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.”

William Wordsworth book Lyrical Ballads

The Tables Turned, st. 6 (1798).
Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800)

Evil

“Are you in a suit?' I managed at last, my voice choking up. 'You didn’t have to dress up for me.'

'Quiet, Sage,' he said. 'I’ll make the hilarious one-liners during this daring rescue.”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

“Is Adrian here?”
“Who?”
“Adrian. Tall. Brown hair. Green eyes.”
She frowned. “Do you mean Jet?”
“I … I’m not sure. Does he smoke like a chimney?”
The girl nodded sagely. “Yup. You must mean Jet.”

“Nice blouse, Sage,” Adrian told me, deadpan. “It really brings out the khaki in your pants.”

Source: Bloodlines

Girl

“Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile”

Source: The Golden Lily

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XIV. 463–466 (tr. Alexander Pope).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Context: Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place,
And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile,
The grave in merry measures frisk about,
And many a long-repented word bring out.

Smile, Wine

“Sage?" Adrian lightly touched my arm, and I jumped at the feel of his fingertips against my skin. "You okay?"
"I don't know," I said softly. "I just thought of something crazy."
"Welcome to my world.”