Quotations are interesting to learn, memorize, and use in cards, speech and scrapbooking. Many enjoy sharing wise words on Twitter or FaceBook.
Following are quotes expressing what great thinkers have thought and said about thinking. Included are great quotes by famous people such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Charlotte Bronte, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Butler Yeats, Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Twain.
Quotes on Thinking and Thinkers
“If only our great thinkers could learn to talk, and our great talkers could learn to think.”
- Ashleigh Brilliant, English Author and Cartoonist, b.1933
"An expert is a man who has stopped thinking - he knows!"
- Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you."
- Don Marquis, American writer and columnist, 1878-1937
"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."
- Charlotte Bronte, best known for her novel, Jane Eyre, b.1816
“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882
“The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.”
- Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, diplomat and politician; won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, 1904-1973
"In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool."
- Lord Chesterfield
Quotes about What Is Important in Life
“In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential.”
- Elder Richard G. Scott
Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints b.1928
“Great innovators and original thinkers and artists attract the wrath of mediocrities as lightning rods draw the flashes.”
- Theodor Reik, American Psychoanalyst and Author, 1888-1969
On Becoming a Great Thinker
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
- William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet, 1865-1939
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes."
- Bejamin Disraelli
“Our goal is to prepare kids to be great thinkers and have a great set of core base knowledge so they can go forward.”
Mike Kelly
“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
Abraham Lincoln, American 16th US President, 1861-1865
“The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things”
Bertrand Russell, English Logician and Philosopher 1872-1970
“It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.”
Mark Twain, American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910
Resources
Quote Geek
Also see Wise Quotes from Great Thinkers and Great Thinkers' Friendship Quotes.
Janienne Jennrich - Janienne Jennrich, Topic Editor for Kids & Teen Parties and for Hair, is an award-winning freelance writer & webmaster.
