Don Colacho’s Aphorisms

It is in reiterating the old commonplaces that the work of civilization, strictly speaking, consists. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selecci...

Sometimes only humiliations leave ajar for humanity the gates of wisdom. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 407

From the slums of life one returns not wiser, but dirtier. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 316

In history it is wise to hope for miracles and absurd to trust in plans. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 295

Wisdom comes down to never forgetting either the nothingness that man is, or the beauty that is at times born in his hands. Escolios a un Te...

A man is wise not so much because he says the truth but because he who knows the exact scope of what he says. Because he does not believe h...

A man is wise if he has no ambition for anything but lives as if he had an ambition for everything. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección...

As a new problem is born out of a problem solved, wisdom consists not in solving problems but in taming them. Escolios a un Texto Implícito:...

Intelligence hastens to solve problems which life has not even raised yet. Wisdom is the art of stopping it. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: ...

The first step of wisdom is to admit, with good humor, that there is no reason why our ideas should interest anybody. Escolios a un Texto Im...

Resignation to error is the beginning of wisdom. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 74

Wisdom, in this century, consists above all in knowing how to put up with vulgarity without becoming upset. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: S...

The most presumptuous wisdom stands ashamed before the soul drunk with love or hatred. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 48

Wisdom comes down to not showing God how things should be done. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 39

Wisdom consists in resigning oneself to the only thing possible without proclaiming it the only thing necessary. Escolios a un Texto Implíci...

Wisdom consists in being moderate not out of horror of excess, but out of love for the limit. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. ...

Wise politics is the art of invigorating society and weakening the State. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 32

Note: This entry is designed to gather into one place the aphorisms in which Gómez Dávila mentions intelligence, wisdom, and stupidity. Noth...