He gossips habitually; he lacks the common wisdom to keep still that deadly enemy of man, his own tongue

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it / and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again / and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.

All war must be just the killing of strangers against whom you feel no personal animosity; strangers whom, in other circumstances, you would help if you found them in trouble, and who would help you if you needed it

Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them

It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.