“The hardest tumble a man can take is to fall over his own bluff.”
More from Ambrose Bierce on Wisdom
“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
“Education n: that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.”
“Ignoramus: a person unacquainted with certain kinds of knowledge familiar to yourself and having certain other kinds that you know nothing about.”
“Litigant: a person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bone.”
“Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to...”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“Honesty's the best policy.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Do not waste your pity on a scamp.”
Confucius
19 quotes“If a man take no thought about what is distant he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Ben Franklin
18 quotes“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”
Rudyard Kipling
14 quotes“One paid for one's knowledge with one's skin.”
William Penn
14 quotes“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be...”
George Washington
14 quotes“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”