On Wisdom

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men.

— Cato the Younger

Attributed via Plutarch, Sayings

The opinion of ten thousand men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.

— Marcus Aurelius

Meditations (attrib.)

Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.

— Marcus Aurelius

Meditations 6.3

He who is everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.

— Seneca

Letters 2.2

Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness.

— Epictetus

Enchiridion 5 (paraphrase)

Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.

— Epictetus

Discourses 2.24

It is silly to want something that cannot be obtained; a wise man wants nothing but what nature provides.

— Musonius Rufus

Lectures 7

Grief is the handmaid of wisdom.

— Chrysippus

Fragment, in Stobaeus 2.90

The whole universe is change; and life itself is but what you deem it.

— Marcus Aurelius

Meditations 4.3

Ignorance is the cause of fear.

— Seneca

Letters 82.16