John Lancaster Spalding Quotes

A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't.

Any fool can say he is wise but only someone wise can admit he is a fool.

Praise has different effects, according to the mind it meets with; it makes a wise man modest, but a fool more arrogant, turning his weak brain giddy.

Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise.

Praise a fool, and slay him; for the canvas of his vanity is spread; His bark is shallow in the water, and a sudden gust shall sink it: Praise a wise man, and speed him on his way; for he carrieth the ballast of humility, And is glad when his course is cheered by the sympathy of brethren ashore.

There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself.

And he is oft the wisest manWho is not wise at all.

A wise man heedeth all things, and in his own eyes is a fool.

I never did a single wise thing in the whole course of my existence, although I have written many which have been thought so.

A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't," Finn replied absently, still looking down at the book. "That's such a fortune-cookie answer," I said with a laugh, and even he smirked at me.

Not one man in five cycles, who is wise, will expect appreciative recognition from his fellows, or any one of them.

It's family, and it's faith, and it's friends, and it's not the glamour of the Presidency, or the wonder of going to receive the Nobel Prize. All those are important, of course. But maybe it's just that I'm 71 years old now. It's family, and it's faith, and it's friends. I would tell them that. Don't forget that. In your brilliance, don't turn your back on your friends. Don't think you're entitled to something, you're smarter than the next guy.

Only fools think they're wise; the rest of us just muddle through as we can.

The fool who thinks he is wise is just a fool. The fool who knows he is a fool is wise indeed.

To the ignorant, even the words of wise seem foolishness.

A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks.

These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor even to speak of himself or his own merits.

Scoffing cometh not of wisdom.

Life with Fools consists in Drinking; with the wise Man, living's Thinking.

True wisdom is a thing very extraordinary. Happy are they that have it: and next to them, not those many that think they have it, but those few that are sensible of their own defects and imperfections, and know that they have it not.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.

To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others is the highest wisdom and perfection.

Wise men have more to learn of fools than fools of wise men.