Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207–1273) was a Persian poet and Sufi mystic who spent most of his life in Konya, in present-day Turkey. His Masnavi, a vast poetic work, is considered one of the summits of Persian literature. Much of his poetry was composed orally, spoken aloud and written down as he went.
About this theme: Wisdom
In the Western tradition wisdom is almost always defined by what it is not. Socrates is famous for claiming to know that he knew nothing; that was not modesty but method. Knowledge is a set of facts, wisdom is knowing what to do with them — and, more often, knowing when there are not enough of them.
More by Rumi
More on Wisdom
- Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.— Lao Tzu
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.— Arthur Schopenhauer
- He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.— Lao Tzu
- Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.— Baruch Spinoza