“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” ― Epictetus
“The wise man questions the wisdom of others because he questions his own, the foolish man, because it is different from his own.” — Leo Stein
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” —Bertrand Russell
“To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom.” —Bertrand Russell
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” —Confucius
“The Foole doth thinke he is wise, but the wiseman knowes himselfe to be a Foole.” —Shakespeare
“To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” — Benjamin Disraeli
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” ― Miguel de Cervantes (Saavedra, in Don Quixote)
“Egotism is the anaesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” — somebody
Proverbs 11:2 (CEB)
2 When pride comes, so does shame,
but wisdom brings humility.
Proverbs 15:33 (NRSV)
33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility goes before honor.
Dunning-Kruger effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
“If it wasn’t complicated, it wouldn’t be allowed to happen. The complexity disguises what is happening. If it’s so complicated you can’t understand it, then you can’t question it.”
Nothing is more honourable than a grateful heart. —Seneca
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience. —Adam Smith
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems. —Epictetus
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. —Epictetus
Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. —Epicurus
Jeremiah 9:23-24 KJV
(23) Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
(24) But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Hebrews 13:5-6 KJV
(5) Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
(6) So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
1 John 2:15-17 KJV
(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Isaiah 5:20-21 (CEB)
20 Doom to those who call evil good and good evil,
who present darkness as light and light as darkness,
who make bitterness sweet and sweetness bitter.
21 Doom to those
who consider themselves wise,
who think of themselves as clever.
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” [C. S. Lewis]
Caveat Lector 