120 Wisdom Quotes To Enlighten Your Mind
Wisdom is known as one of humanity’s greatest assets. The ability to understand life’s deeper meanings and lessons through experience over time is truly valuable. This article aims to share some of the wisest thoughts ever recorded on life’s biggest topics from influential figures throughout history.
Some of the quotes featured come from ancient philosophers like Confucius and Laozi whose teachings still enlighten us today. Others are from more modern sages like Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt who imparted deep insights from their own era. These thought-provoking snippets of wisdom are grouped into sections addressing key areas like love, success, happiness, courage and more.
By exposing yourself to these gems of insight and perspective from cultures and generations past, you can gain a refreshed outlook on challenges you face. Some quotes may resonate more than others depending on your own journey. Overall, exploring these 120 wisdom quotes can help nourish your mind and soul with timeless principles that still hold true for navigating life’s twists and turns. I hope you find meaningful inspiration within these pages.
1. Words of insight into life’s journey
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
“Be it a pebble, a mountain or ocean, life is full of its surprises – be prepared for its twists and turns at every moment.” – Wish
“In the sweetness of life, let life itself be sweet.” – Proverb
“Life is a grand adventure; we were meant to seek and conquer, to grow into our best selves in the process.” – Proverb
“Dwell not in the past, it comes not back again. Focus rather on the ever-living present and its living duties which are yours to perform.” – Sri Chinmoy
“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” – Proverb
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” – African Proverb
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Green
“The pathway to wisdom is through mindfulness, insight, truth and compassion. Embrace life’s lessons, however painful they seem.” – Proverb
“As long as we are alive, we are going to feel hurt sometimes – it’s a natural part of being human. The path of wisdom therefore lies in using sorrow and uncertainty as an ally to reach a greater level of self-understanding.” – Wish
“This life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.” – Proverb
“Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.” – Seneca
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller
“Where there is no adventure there is no experience.” – Minnie Aumonier
“Life at its best is a glorious adventure.” – Helen Keller
“Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.” – Samuel Butler
“To err is human, to forgive divine. Have no fear of making mistakes along the journey of life – embrace each one as a learning experience and opportunity for growth.” – Wish
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting — a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. Sage advice for the soul’s evolution
“We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide
“What you seek is seeking you.” – Rumi
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” – Rumi
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“We are all just walking each other home.” – Ram Dass
“I walk away from fear, feeling my strength is greater than before. I walk away from fear.” – Jarilyn Johnson
“The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.” – Native American Proverb
“Today is life – the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today.” – Suzy Kassem
“Beyond adversity lies greatness.” – Vikrant Parsai
“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” – Anatole France
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.” – Native American Proverb
“No matter where you are coming from, your vision should always be wider than your current reach.” – Vikrant Parsai
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but what’s on your heart.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“You are the universe experiencing itself.” – Adyashanti
3. Guidance for living with purpose and meaning
“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are.” – Eckhart Tolle
“There is a purpose to life and we are here to discover it. The meaning of life is not just something that’s out there; it’s up to us to give our lives meaning by our actions.” – Tom Hiddleston
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson (3rd US President)
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – William Shakespeare
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
“The purpose of life is the growth and development of your character and the enlargement of your capacities so that you may be useful and helpful to fellow men.” – James Allen
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“Meaning is not what you start with, but what you end up with.” – Peter Drucker
“Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder.” – Anonymous
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
“When you have a clear sense of purpose, things that seem complicated on paper become simple in real life.”- Steve Maraboli
“Find a purpose bigger than yourself.” – Steve Maraboli
“A purpose is the eternal condition for happiness. Find yours.” – Anonymous
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” – Unknown
“Having clear purpose and direction is key to productivity and progress” – Jim Collins
“Do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“Find something you love doing and you’ll never work another day in your life.” – Anonymous
“Follow your heart but take your brain with you.” – Alfred Adler
“It is always better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson.
4. Perspectives to promote inner reflection
“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” – Gandhi
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” – Lao Tzu
“Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
“You change your life by changing your heart.” – Max Lucado
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” – Buddha
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” – Albert Einstein
“The real secret of success is enthusiasm.” – Walter Chrysler
“There are few people who can see how time passes, who can feel their life slipping away, minute by minute, without purpose or meaning.” – Paulo Coelho
“Happiness comes from harmony within.” – Nelson Mandela
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
“No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.” – Anonymous
“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” – Les Brown
“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily difference we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” – Marian Wright Edelman
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” – Carl Jung
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” – Anonymous
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs
5. Maxims for cultivating an open mind
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” – Robert Frost
“An open mind is enlightening when observing without judgment.” – Lama Thubten Chodron
“Keep your mind open to new ideas and perspectives. An open door leads to opportunities.” – Anonymous
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” – Herbert Agar
“An open heart will help you find connections where you least expect them. Listen generously.” – Anaïs Nin
“The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship; the greatest sweetener of friendship is to share our thoughts.” – Joseph Addison
“The mark of an educated person is being able to entertain an idea without accepting it.” – Aristotle
“Being open minded means welcoming more wisdom and light, not darkness. Know what hills are worth dying on.” – Nishan Panwar
“Have an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“Make your mind an unmolested temple of liberty and wisdom.” – Carl Sagan
“With an open heart and mind, everything that happens will teach you something.” – Anthropic
“Feed your mind with stories of compassion so your heart doesn’t harden.” – Amanda Kalilla
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” – Seneca
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” – Malcolm Forbes
“Seek truth, not victory; and find wisdom, not revenge or blaming. An open ear is a blessing.” – Tadao Ando
“Expanding your mind opens your heart.” – Anthropic
“Keep an open channel in your mind where the secrets of life may continuous flow into you.” – Orison Swett Marden
“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” – Victor Hugo
“Wisdom begins with wonder. Cultivate your curiosity without bounds.” – Bruce Lee
6. Counsel for thinking beyond surface views
“Go below the surface; dig deeper and ponder over the core issues rather than being satisfied just by superficial judgments.” – Chanakya
“Do not confuse simplicity for simplicity’s sake with simplistic thinking to avoid complexity.” – Anonymous
“Seek to understand what you do not know first before rushing to assume or conclude on surface impressions alone.” – Lao Tzu
“Do not look at the surface of things but deeper within, for appearances are deceptive but the truth lies within.” – Egyptian Proverb
“Look beneath the surface; let not the several qualities of objects distract your mind from the core of things.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
“We often perceive more than we understand. Wisdom lies not in seeing but in reflection upon what we see that is below superficial views.” – C.S. Lewis
“Do not think you see all there is to see, nor assume you know all there is to know based on cursory glances. True insight lies beneath superficial visions.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan
“Do not judge by mere appearances; seek to understand what you do not yet fully comprehend beyond superficial glimpses.” – Confucius
“The art of profound thinking is not believing everything you think nor relying on surface views alone. Wisdom dictates exploring below outward appearances.” – Allan Lokos
“Wisdom lies not on the surface but in contemplating the depths below superficial perceptions, in questioning surface convictions without conclusive evidence.” – Anthropic
“Seek to look through and beneath, not just at surface views which alone can never yield wisdom’s fertile ground hidden underneath.” – Paulo Coelho
“Wisdom’s calling is not accepting things at face value nor remaining on superficial levels. Its nurturing soil lies in exploring beneath outward aspects.” – Rumi
“Wisdom’s way is insight, not appearance; truth, not superficiality. Its quest stays the course below surface perceptions to depths within.” – James Allen
“True understanding lies not in half-truths but in contemplating whole truths below what merely meets casual or prejudiced perceptions.” – Stephen Covey
“He is wise who sees through all disguises and looks beneath the mask to know the reality below superficial veils.” – Kahlil Gibran
“We must distinguish between what appears to be and what is, between the husk and the kernel, between the exterior and the essential.” – William Law
“He alone sees keenly and truly who looks beneath the surface; pretences and manners are deceptive, it is the man or woman below that we wish to discern.” – George Eliot
“Wisdom is not a grasping of superficial explanations but a deepening reflection on underlying realities below outward delusions.” – Pema Chödrön
“To know truly is to see beneath what deceives the senses and pretends to knowledge, down to where understanding nourishes roots.” – Khalil Gibran
“True discernment lies not in superficial distinctions but in discerning deeper connections below outward separations.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Conclusion
The quotes shared in this article come from some of the greatest minds throughout history and aim to inspire deeper thinking. Whether on life, humanity or challenges of the world, their wisdom is as relevant today as when first written. Reflecting on these words can help give perspective to our daily struggles and strengthen our character. As we face uncertain times, taking their lessons to heart may guide us towards more enlightened choices and actions. While answers are rarely simple, increasing our understanding is empowering. I hope readers will continue widening their knowledge by meditating on these thought-provoking sayings.