On the Wise and Otherwise, Sanity
and Madness
Dare to be wise.
—Horace, *21 BC
Wise men learn by other men’s mistakes, fools by their own.
1
—European proverb
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
—Baltasar Gracián, 1647
2
There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to
have wisdom.
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1871
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
—Williams James, 1890
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,
The mere materials with which wisdom builds […].
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
—William Cowper, 1785
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
—Alfred Tennyson, 1835
3
1
This maxim, misattributed to quite a few recent authors, is often extended in the following
direction: “…and full morons do not learn even by their own errors”. (On a personal note, with no
hope of reaching the first category, I was always clinging to the second of them, making every
effort to avoid the third one.).
2
There is a close Italian proverb, “Your enemy makes you wise”.
3
Frequently misattributed to Calvin Coolidge.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_7
67
and Madness
Dare to be wise.
—Horace, *21 BC
Wise men learn by other men’s mistakes, fools by their own.
1
—European proverb
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
—Baltasar Gracián, 1647
2
There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to
have wisdom.
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1871
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
—Williams James, 1890
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,
The mere materials with which wisdom builds […].
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
—William Cowper, 1785
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
—Alfred Tennyson, 1835
3
1
This maxim, misattributed to quite a few recent authors, is often extended in the following
direction: “…and full morons do not learn even by their own errors”. (On a personal note, with no
hope of reaching the first category, I was always clinging to the second of them, making every
effort to avoid the third one.).
2
There is a close Italian proverb, “Your enemy makes you wise”.
3
Frequently misattributed to Calvin Coolidge.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_7
67