By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection; second, by imitation; third, by experience.
In plain words
You get wise by thinking, by copying good examples, and by trying things.
Where these words come from
- 55% sureLots of sources credit Confucius with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- Attributed to The Analects via 20th-century compilations (Chambers 1997; Montapert 1986); wording unmatched to a primary classical text
More from Confucius
See allIt does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
ConfuciusStudy the past if you would define the future.ConfuciusIf you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.ConfuciusOnly after Winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade.ConfuciusLearning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.ConfuciusIs it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?Confucius
ConfuciusStudy the past if you would define the future.ConfuciusIf you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.ConfuciusOnly after Winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade.ConfuciusLearning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.ConfuciusIs it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?ConfuciusMore on learning
A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.Chinese proverbThose who trust us educate us.
George EliotOur mission as teachers is to show the right way to those who come after us.
Antonín DvořákSo obvious, indeed, is the necessity of teaching and learning for the continued existence of a society that we may seem to be dwelling unduly on a truism.John DeweySchools are, indeed, one important method of the transmission which forms the dispositions of the immature; but it is only one means, and, compared with other agencies, a relatively superficial means.John DeweyThe inequality of achievement between the mature and the immature not only necessitates teaching the young, but the necessity of this teaching gives an immense stimulus to reducing experience to that order and form which will render it most easily communicable and hence most usable.John Dewey
George EliotOur mission as teachers is to show the right way to those who come after us.Antonín DvořákSo obvious, indeed, is the necessity of teaching and learning for the continued existence of a society that we may seem to be dwelling unduly on a truism.John DeweySchools are, indeed, one important method of the transmission which forms the dispositions of the immature; but it is only one means, and, compared with other agencies, a relatively superficial means.John DeweyThe inequality of achievement between the mature and the immature not only necessitates teaching the young, but the necessity of this teaching gives an immense stimulus to reducing experience to that order and form which will render it most easily communicable and hence most usable.John Dewey