Aristotle wrote: “There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.”
Over the course of my life I’ve met some very wise people. Met some fools, too. At times, I guess, I’ve been a little of both. The ones I’ve learned the most from have contributed so much to this radio show over the years. There have been so many writings that have dealt with the thoughts of wise men and women. Since part of this day dealt exclusively with fools, I thought you might appreciate some time-tested wisdom to end it. These are a few of my favorites…
“All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.” Goethe and quoted in the Points To Ponder column of the September 1995 issue of the Reader’s Digest magazine.
“Don’t be too busy, too serious, too sensible to enjoy a little fun and laughter. Remember: ‘A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.’” An excerpt from the 2003 edition of The Friendship Book Of Francis Gay, published by D. C. Thomson and Company.
“Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary, time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube.” William Arthur Ward and featured in the Points To Ponder column of the November 1996 issue of the Reader’s Digest magazine.
“It is a wise man who profits by his own experience, but it’s a good deal wiser one who lets the rattlesnake bite the other fellow.” Josh Billings from the collection, Fields Of Gold, published by The C. R. Gibson Company.
“It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.” An excerpt from The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
“She must be rich who can forgo / An hour so jewelled with delight, / She must have treasuries of joy / That she can draw on day and night, / She must be very sure of heaven– / Or is it only that she feels / How much more safe it is to lack / A thing that time so often steals.” Sara Teasdale published by Macmillan Publishing.
We had some fairly strong winds out my way today. There is so much to be learned from the wind.
“A wind is blowing over my soul, / I hear it cry the whole night through– / Is there no peace for me on earth / Except with you?
“Alas, the wind has made we wise, / Over my naked soul it blew,– / There is no peace for me on earth / Even with you.” The Wind by Sara Teasdale, again published by Macmillan Publishing.
“I walked a mile with Pleasure, / She chatted all the way, / But left me none the wiser / For all she had to say.
“I walked a mile with Sorrow, / And ne’er a word said she; / But, oh, the things I learned from her / When Sorrow walked with me.” Robert Browning Hamilton.
“In our whole life melody, the music is broken off in rests, and we foolishly think we have come to the end of time. God sends a time of forced leisure, a time of sickness and disappointed plans, and makes a sudden pause in the hymns of our lives, and we lament that our voice must be silent and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of our Creator. Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the time and not be dismayed by the rests. If we look up, God will beat the time for us.” Pauses by John Ruskin.
“It is never wise to seek or wish for another’s misfortune. If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang.” Charley Reese of King Features and featured in Quotable Quotes in the May 1992 issue of the Reader’s Digest magazine.
“You are wise–when you know the limits of your wisdom.” An excerpt from an unknown writer on the Internet.
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Don Jackson
