Elbert Hubbard Quotes

Intelligence complicates. Wisdom simplifies.

Uneducated people are unfortunate in that they do grasp complex issues, educated people, on the other hand, often do not understand simplicity, which is a far greater misfortune.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused. But on a higher level.

Facts are many, but the truth is one.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.

Data is not necessarily information. Information does not necessarily lead to knowledge. And knowledge is not always sufficient to discover truth and breed wisdom.

Complex things, if you don't understand them, it seems complicated. If you understand them, and we know how to handle it, it became simple.

We shall see but a little way if we require to understand what we see.

I like cutting through complexity and trying to get to the kernel of an idea.

Sometimes it's easier to understand things than it is to figure them out

One truth that I know for sure, for me anyway, is that the more you know, the more you realize that you don't know.

I would have offered you a forest of truth, but you wish to speak of a single leaf

Information is endlessly available to us; where shall wisdom be found?

I know nothing, because I know too much, and understand not nearly enough and never will.

To achieve perfection, one must first begin by not understanding many things! And if we understand too quickly, we may not understand well.

You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom.

Find the heart of it. Make the complex simple, and you can achieve mastery.

In a sense, knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows: for details are swallowed up in principles.

The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.

If you have to ask, you’ll never know. If you know, you need only ask.

Wisdom is one of the few things that looks bigger the further away it is.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.