Ancient civilizations may be long gone, but their wisdom is very much alive. Philosophers, rulers, poets, and spiritual teachers from thousands of years ago explored the same questions we still ask today. How should we live? What brings happiness? What truly matters?
These ancient wisdom quotes have survived centuries because they speak to universal human truths.
Ancient Wisdom Quotes
- “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Socrates - “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates - “Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
Aristotle - “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle - “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Aristotle - “No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
Heraclitus - “Character is destiny.”
Heraclitus - “He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.”
Confucius - “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
Confucius - “When anger rises, think of the consequences.”
Confucius - “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
Confucius - “If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.”
Lao Tzu - “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu - “Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Lao Tzu - “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
Lao Tzu - “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Buddha - “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
Buddha - “Three things cannot be long hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth.”
Buddha - “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth.”
Buddha - “What we think, we become.”
Buddha - “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
Marcus Aurelius - “You have power over your mind, not outside events.”
Marcus Aurelius - “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”
Marcus Aurelius - “If it is not right, do not do it.”
Marcus Aurelius - “He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man.”
Seneca - “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Seneca - “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca - “Difficulties strengthen the mind.”
Seneca - “No wind favors the ship that has no destination.”
Seneca - “Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.”
Epictetus - “First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.”
Epictetus - “It is not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.”
Epictetus - “Freedom is the only worthy goal in life.”
Epictetus - “Silence is a source of great strength.”
Lao Tzu - “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
Ancient Chinese Proverb - “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
Japanese Proverb - “A wise man hears one word and understands two.”
Yiddish Proverb - “He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.”
Arabian Proverb - “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
Rumi - “Why are you so busy with this or that or good or bad, pay attention to how things blend.”
Rumi - “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
Rumi - “When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.”
Rumi - “If you want to awaken all of humanity, awaken all of yourself.”
Lao Tzu - “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.”
Confucius - “The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.”
Confucius - “Time is the wisest counselor of all.”
Pericles - “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
Epictetus - “The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
Plato - “Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say something.”
Plato - “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.”
Plato - “A man who has committed a mistake and does not correct it is committing another mistake.”
Confucius - “The obstacle is the path.”
Zen Proverb - “Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.”
Rumi - “To rule yourself is true power.”
Ancient Greek Proverb - “Learning never exhausts the mind.”
Leonardo da Vinci - “A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.”
African Proverb - “One who is too insistent on his own views finds few to agree with him.”
Lao Tzu - “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
Lao Tzu - “Knowing is not enough. We must apply.”
Aristotle - “Hope is a waking dream.”
Aristotle - “Fortune favors the bold.”
Latin Proverb - “He who learns but does not think is lost.”
Confucius - “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
Buddha - “Adversity introduces a man to himself.”
Ancient Greek Saying - “When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be.”
Lao Tzu - “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise.”
Lao Tzu - “Do the difficult things while they are easy.”
Lao Tzu - “A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”
William Blake - “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”
Socrates - “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life.”
Socrates
Ancient wisdom reminds us that technology may change, but human nature does not. These quotes endure because they speak to discipline, self awareness, resilience, and inner peace. In a fast moving world, sometimes the oldest advice is still the most powerful.
