Words of Wisdom Thread

[Mr. Dictator]

Recently I've been back on a reading kick, and my favourite genre has always been what I call "Wisdom Books". The Daodejing is probably my favourite by far, and lately I've been reading Baltasar Gracián's The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Well, I'm nearing the end of that and I'm looking for another book to add to my list.

I prefer the set-up of the Daodejing and The Art of Worldly Wisdom's paragraph form, as the best advice is punctual.

But! In order to add another level of interest to the thread, I also think that we could share our favourite pieces of advice.

Topically specific or vague, but let's not spam this one up, k?

 

[aneeshm]

Even though I'm not a Christian, Ecclesiastes rates high up there. In general, a lot of the OT provides insight into human nature in the raw.

The classical literatures of the world (the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid from the west, the Ramayana and Mahabharata from India) are mines of wisdom. There is a tradition in Sanskrit literature in India called the Subhashita. You'll find many pithy and wise quotations and little nuggets of wisdom in collections of these.