The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook
Meaning: True wisdom includes knowing which details and offenses are not worth your attention or energy.
Origin: From the American psychologist William James's The Principles of Psychology (1890): "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." James meant that clear thinking depends on picking out the one feature of a situation that matters and ignoring the rest.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: L'art d'être sage, c'est de savoir quoi négliger (literally: The art of being wise is knowing what to neglect)
- Spanish: El arte de ser sabio es saber qué ignorar (literally: The art of being wise is knowing what to ignore)
- Japanese: 賢さの技は何を見過ごすかを知ることだ (Kashikosa no waza wa nani wo misugosu ka wo shiru koto da) (literally: The art of wisdom is knowing what to overlook)
More proverbs about Wisdom
- A bad penny always comes back — Undesirable people or problems have a persistent way of reappearing despite your efforts…
- A buck's a buck — Money retains equal value regardless of its source or the circumstances under which it wa…
- A cat may look at a king — Even the humblest creature possesses the right to observe or question those of highest st…
- A creaking door hangs long on its hinges — Constant complaint or noise doesn't necessarily lead to ruin; persistence can outlast exp…
- A golden key can open any door — Wealth and privilege grant access to opportunities otherwise unavailable to ordinary peop…
- All cats are gray at night — When darkness obscures differences, all things appear equal or indistinguishable.
From our untranslatable words
- Razliubit — To fall out of love — the process of ceasing to love someone you once loved, leaving behi…
- Mamihlapinatapai — The look between two people who both want the same thing but neither is willing to initia…
- Ubuntu — The philosophy that a person is a person only through other people — humanity expressed t…