Wisdom Quote by David Brooks — Inspiring Words on Life, Love & Wisdom

“The lecture halls of the world are filled with senior citizens who seek greater knowledge and wisdom. The explanatory drive that was there when they were babies is still there now.”

“This is how life works. Deciding whom to love is not an alien form of decision-making, a romantic interlude in the midst of normal life. Instead, decisions about whom to love are more intense versions of the sorts of decisions we make throughout the course of our existence, from what kind of gelato to order to what career to pursue. Living is an inherently emotional business.”

“Wise people help you come up with a different way of looking at yourself, your past, and the world around you. Very often they focus your attention on your relationships, the in-between spaces that are so easy to overlook. How can this friendship or this marriage be nourished and improved? The wise person sees your gifts and potential, even the ones you do not see. Being seen in this way has a tendency to turn down the pressure, offering you some distance from your immediate situation, offering hope.”

“I’ve come to believe that wise people don’t tell us what to do; they start by witnessing our story. They take the anecdotes, rationalizations, and episodes we tell, and see us in a noble struggle. They see the way we’re navigating the dialectics of life—intimacy versus independence, control versus uncertainty— and understand that our current self is just where we are right now, part of a long continuum of growth.”

“In the long run what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own destinies.”

“It's simple, it's not that simple; or life is simple, but the things in it are not. When a man does not understand it, he tends to inflate it. When he does, he tends to deflate it. In the end, neither images are fully accurate.”

“The unteachable man is sentenced to being taught only by experience. The tragedy is he reaches nothing further than his own pain.”

“Mama used to say, you have to know someone a thousand days before you can glimpse her soul.”

“Throughout the day, make a conscious effort to follow your highest leadings, whatever feels most alive, exciting, or natural in each moment. You are looking for the thread of synchronicity and allowing it to guide you from one thing to the next.”

“Yesterday I was clever,”