Richard Whately Quotes

I got so tired of hearing those proverbs when I was a child. Now I use them all the time. Sometimes they are the best way to say what needs to be said. I teach them to my students. I have a collection of proverbs for class discussion and writing assignments.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.

For proverbs are the pith, the proprieties, the proofs, the purities, the elegancies, as the commonest so the commendablest phrases of a language. To use them is a grace, to understand them a good.

Proverbs are potted wisdom.

In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations.

Proverbs are mental gems gathered in the diamond fields of the mind.

Proverbs may not improperly be called the philosophy of the common people.

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes?

Nor do apophthegms only serve for ornament and delight, but also for action and civil use, as being the edge-tools of speech which cut and penetrate the knots of business and affairs: for occasions have their revolutions, and what has once been advantageously used may be so again, either as an old thing or a new one.

Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.

Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions. That which the droning world, chained to appearances, will not allow the realist to say in his own words, it will suffer him to say in proverbs without contradiction.

There are a lot of truths in this world. When it rains it pours. It's always darkest before the dawn. He who smelt it dealt it.

Witty inspirations are the proverbs of the educated.

Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations.

Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.

I believe aphorisms are best when first read in the wild, free from the confines of any categories.

I collect axioms, paradoxes, maxims, teaching stories, proverbs, and aphorisms of all sorts, because I love to see complex ideas distilled into a few words.

The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.

Yet it looks as if the thing we use to solve our problems with is the source of our problems. It's like going to the doctor and having him make you ill. In fact, in 20% of medical cases we do apparently have that going on. But in the case of thought, its far over 20%.

I'd lived by quotations, practically all my life.

I prefer sayings over jokes.

The nice thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socially impressive.

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are preserved by quotations.

A man of maxims only is like a Cyclops with one eye, and that eye in the back of his head.