Sage (philosophy)

A sage, in classical philosophy, is someone who has attained the wisdom which a philosopher seeks. Quotes Il ne manque cependant à l’oisiveté du sage qu’un meilleur nom, et que méditer, parler, lire, et être tranquille s’appelât travailler. There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.” Jean de La Bruyère, Characters, H. Van Laun, trans. (London: 1885) “Of Personal Merit,” #12 There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom. Nicolas Chamfort, Maxims and Considerations, E. P. Mathers, trans. (1926), #149 A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his own thought, because it is his. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1883), pp. 47-48 En un descuido puede caer el mayor sabio, pero en dos no; y de paso, que no de asiento. The greatest of sages can commit one mistake, but not two; he may fall into error, but he doesn’t lie down and make his home there. Baltasar Gracián, Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia, § 214 (Christopher Maurer trans.) Nothing better or happier can befall a man than to be in the proximity of one of those victorious ones, who, precisely because they have thought the most deeply, must love what is most alive and, as sages, incline in the end to the beautiful. They speak truly, they do not stammer, and do not chatter about what they have heard; they are active and live truly and not the uncanny masquerade men are accustomed to live: which is why, in their proximity, we for once feel human and natural for once, and feel like exclaiming with Goethe: “How glorious and precious is a living thing!” Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations, translated by Hollingdale, “Schopenhauer as educator,” § 3.2, p. 136 He is a despicable sage whose wisdom does not profit himself. Publius Syrus, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus (1856), # 629 The sage and the contemner of wealth most resemble God. Sextus the Pythagorean, Selected Sentences, #2 I cannot understand how some people can live without communicating with the wisest people who ever lived on earth. Leo Tolstoy, Letter to Gusev, May 16, 1908 A questioner asks: If human nature is evil, then where do ritual and rightness come from? I reply: ritual and rightness are always created by the conscious activity of the sages. Xun Zi, “Human Nature is Evil,” Sources of Chinese Tradition (1999), vol. 1, p. 180 See also Bodhisattva Gentlemen Junzi Ethics Ideal Ubermensch External links Category:Occupations Category:Philosophy