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

“We all know people who are smart. But that doesn’t mean they are wise. Understanding and wisdom come from surviving the pitfalls of life, thriving in life, having wide and deep contact with other people. Out of your own moments of suffering, struggle, friendship, intimacy, and joy comes a compassionate awareness of how other people feel—their frailty, their confusion, and their courage. The wise are those who have lived full, varied lives, and reflected deeply on what they’ve been through.”

“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.”

“The greatest thing a person does is to take the lessons of life, the hard knocks of life, the surprises of life, and the mundane realities of life and refine their own consciousness so that they can gradually come to see the world with more understanding, more wisdom, more humanity, and more grace.”

“The wise person is there not to be walked over but to stand up for the actual truth, to call the other person out when need be, if they are hiding from some hard reality. “Receptivity without confrontation leads to a bland neutrality that serves nobody,” the theologian Henri Nouwen wrote. “Confrontation without receptivity leads to an oppressive aggression which hurts everybody.”

“Misery builds character, happiness makes cheesecake.”

“The essence of wisdom is to know when to be doing, and when it's useless even to try”

“The most essential prerequisite to understanding is to be able to admit when you don't understand something”

“How can you be one of the stars of heaven, when the stars are innumerable? What star number do you have?”

“I’ve come to understand that the pain of a wound or a loss is over as soon as it happens.”

“It takes a very long time to become young.”