“The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.”
More from John Locke on Wisdom
“A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”
“The thoughts that come often unsought and as it were drop into the mind are commonly the most valuable of any we have.”
“Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.”
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
“It is of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean.”
“Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.”
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.”
Confucius
19 quotes“If a man take no thought about what is distant he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Do not waste your pity on a scamp.”
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.”
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 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.”
Sir Winston Churchill
14 quotes“...anger is a waste of energy. Steam which is used to blow off a safety valve would be better used to drive an engine.”