James Fitzjames Stephen Quotes

Knowing what is right does not make a sagacious man.

Wisdom - meaning judgment acting on experience, common sense, available knowledge, and a decent appreciation of probability.

Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.

The wise man is seldom prudent.

Wisdom is exercised in the choices you make.

Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned.

Wisdom is an affair of values, and of value judgments. It is intelligent conduct of human affairs.

It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next.

Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.

Many sophisticated, intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense.

One thing I have seen over and over again in life is that there is virtually no correlation between intelligence and common sense. IQ doesn't seem to translate that way.

Common sense is often underrated.

Why is it that common sense is seldom common practice?

Men do not fail commonly for want of knowledge, but for want of prudence to give wisdom the preference.

Knowledge descries; wisdom applies.

Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste or their humor, to once from their reason.

The wise form right judgment of the present from what is past.

To know is not to be wise. To know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

By how much one man has more experience of things past, than another, by so much also he is more prudent, and his expectations the seldomer fail him.

One wise man's verdict outweighs all the fools'.

Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely.

Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.

Logic is one thing and commonsense another.