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Wise People Quotes

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Wise People Quotes

“The wise person is there not to be walked over but to stand up for the actual truth, to call the other person out when need be, if they are hiding from some hard reality. “Receptivity without confrontation leads to a bland neutrality that serves nobody,” the theologian Henri Nouwen wrote. “Confrontation without receptivity leads to an oppressive aggression which hurts everybody.”

WisdomTruthConfrontationWise PeopleReceptivityTough LovePushoverCalling OutHenri Nouwen
Book:How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
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“I’ve come to believe that wise people don’t tell us what to do; they start by witnessing our story. They take the anecdotes, rationalizations, and episodes we tell, and see us in a noble struggle. They see the way we’re navigating the dialectics of life—intimacy versus independence, control versus uncertainty— and understand that our current self is just where we are right now, part of a long continuum of growth. The really good confidants—the people we go to when we are troubled—are more like coaches than philosopher-kings. They take in your story, accept it, but push you to clarify what it is you really want, or to name the baggage you left out of your clean tale. They ask you to probe into what is really bothering you, to search for the deeper problem underneath the convenient surface problem you’ve come to them for help about. Wise people don’t tell you what to do; they help you process your own thoughts and emotions. They enter with you into your process of meaning-making and then help you expand it, push it along. All choice involves loss: If you take this job, you don’t take that one. Much of life involves reconciling opposites: I want to be attached, but I also want to be free. Wise people create a safe space where you can navigate the ambiguities and contradictions we all wrestle with. They prod and lure you along until your own obvious solution emerges into view. Their essential gift is receptivity, the capacity to receive what you are sending. This is not a passive skill. The wise person is not just keeping her ears open. She is creating an atmosphere of hospitality, an atmosphere in which people are encouraged to set aside their fear of showing weakness, their fear of confronting themselves. She is creating an atmosphere in which people swap stories, trade confidences. In this atmosphere people are free to be themselves, encouraged to be honest with themselves.”

WisdomListeningFriendsConversationsWise PeopleReceptivityConfidants
Book:How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
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“Wise people help you come up with a different way of looking at yourself, your past, and the world around you. Very often they focus your attention on your relationships, the in-between spaces that are so easy to overlook. How can this friendship or this marriage be nourished and improved? The wise person sees your gifts and potential, even the ones you do not see. Being seen in this way has a tendency to turn down the pressure, offering you some distance from your immediate situation, offering hope.”

WisdomHopeRelationshipsPerspectiveDistanceWise PeopleSeeing Someone
Book:How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
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“Wise people understand the need to consult experts; only fools are confident they know everything.”

LifeWisdomLife LessonsLife QuotesWiseWisdom QuotesWise QuotesExpertsLife Lessons QuotesWise SayingsLife LessonLife Lesson QuotesLife ExperienceLife QuoteUnderstandKnowWisdom QuoteEverythingWise ThoughtsConfidentLife Lessons QuoteFoolsKen PoirotKen Poirot QuoteKen Poirot QuotesWise PeopleAuthor Ken PoirotWise SayingLife Lesson QuoteWise ThoughtFools QuotesConsultKnow QuotesConfident QuotesUnderstand QuotesWise People QuotesConsultant QuotesWise QuoteEverything QuotesKnow EverythingEverything QuoteExperts QuoteFools QuoteUnderstand QuoteConfident QuoteConsult ExpertsConsult QuoteConsult QuotesConsultant QuoteConsultants QuoteConsultants QuotesExperts QuotesKnow Everything QuoteKnow Everything QuotesKnow QuoteOnly FoolsOnly Fools QuoteOnly Fools QuotesWise People Quote
Author:Ken Poirot
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“Social opinion is like a sharp knife. There are foolish people who regard it only with terror, and dare not touch or meddle with it. There are more foolish people, who, in rashness or defiance, seize it by the blade, and get cut and mangled for their pains. And there are wise people, who grasp it discreetly and boldly by the handle, and use it to carve out their own purposes.”

PeopleUsePainPurposeSocialOpinionWiseCuttingRegardTerrorDareFoolishHandleKnivesBladesDefianceWise PeopleRashnessSharp Knives
Book:A commonplace book of thoughts, memories and fancies, original and selected
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“Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.”

PeopleHas BeensWiseUniversalCorruptionTyrannyCrueltyEmpiresRepublicConspiracyVirtuousVengeanceRevivalEmperorProvokedWise PeopleIncorrigible
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“There are always two kinds of people in every country: Progressives and reactionaries; wise people and ignorant; democrats and fascists; libertarians and oppressive. All struggles happen between these two parties. If you are in the first group, your greatest reward will be dignity and victory!”

PeopleIfsFirstsKindTwoCountryHappensPartyStruggleWiseGroupsVictoryDignityDemocratRewardsLibertarianIgnorantFascistsReactionariesWise People
Author:Mehmet Murat Ildan
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“The very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is worth reading, it is worth buying. No book is worth anything which is not worth much; nor is it serviceable, until it has been read, and re-read, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it.”

PeopleIfsWantHas BeensBookReadingLiteratureForgetWiseBuyingPassagesWorth ReadingWise PeopleCheapness
Book:The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
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“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

PeopleInspirationalWisdomHumorMotivationalFunnyHappinessPeaceLeadershipInspiringQualityWiseHonestyInspirational LifeWords Of WisdomIntegrityWittyThings To DoRight ThingMotivatedWorkplaceEnd Of The WorldFunny InspirationalGratificationAstonishingDoing The Right ThingAstonishmentService CultureDoing RightFunny MotivationalDoes It MatterHonesty IntegrityWise PeopleHonesty And IntegrityHonest And IntegrityRest Of LifeHonor And IntegrityEthics And IntegrityLight Of My Life
Author:Mark Twain
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“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”

LifeInspirationalWisdomPainMotivationTurnsUnderstandingHurtAttitudeWisePositiveExperienceAdversityPainfulPositivityWoundsLive LifeBreakupWoundedHeartbrokenHuman ExperienceBreak UpWisestOvercoming AdversityHeart BreakFamous WomenHeart BrokeBroken UpWise PeopleInspirational AdversityWise WisdomHeart WrenchingOvercoming PainAdversity In LifeSad Breaking HeartAfter BreakupWisdom And ExperienceAfter Break UpShort Inspirational LifeBreakups And Moving OnWounded HeartOld WoundsMoving On After BreakupOvercome TrialsHeal A Broken HeartHeart Break UpWounds And ScarsWisdom ExperienceNever Stop Improving
Book:The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights and Inspirational Conversations
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