# Who were the wisest men in history? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277 "2006-10-20T20:45:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shivohum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@shivohum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shivohum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/1 "2006-10-20T20:45:13Z")
Especially regarding human nature… Ideas? ---
**Author:** ![shivohum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@shivohum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shivohum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/2 "2006-10-20T20:53:38Z")
I should add that wise women are certainly not excluded… ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/3 "2006-10-20T21:00:12Z")
Modesty forbids… 😃 I’d nominate Thomas Paine, myownself. He was, IIRC, a failure at about everything he tried except for eloquently stating his opinions, including that - A) people were not meant to be slaves 2) children are undeserving of cruelty III) men and women deserve equal rights Sure, others may have put forth those ideas, but Paine also rejected religion and wrote so well that some have credited him with saving the Revolution with American Crisis. > [@](#): > > THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right not only to tax but “to bind us in all cases whatsoever,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. (I’m assuming this is public domain, being 230 years old) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/4 "2006-10-20T23:56:25Z")
Oprah? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/5 "2006-10-21T00:22:18Z")
Heh, now that you mention it, Tom Paine is a really good nominee, I gotta hand it to you for coming up with a beaut so early in the thread. My nominee is **Sojourner Truth** , who said things like, “If women want any rights more’n they got, why don’t they just take ‘em, and not be talkin’ about it?” ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/6 "2006-10-21T02:12:19Z")
Thomas Paine, good, good… Add to that list: John Stuart Mill ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/7 "2006-10-21T04:18:27Z")
Seems to me that if a person is attention-seeking enough to be \*\*famous \*\*for his wisdom, he should be disqualified from consideration. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/8 "2006-10-21T14:19:10Z")
Me! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/9 "2006-10-21T14:22:12Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] Me! [/QUOTE] Oh, a wise guy! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/10 "2006-10-21T16:37:08Z")
Just in case any Dopers need evidence in support of **Malientation** ’s excellent nomination of John Stuart Mill, here is a famous passage from _On Liberty_: > [@John Stuart Mill](#): > > If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. The full text of _On Liberty_ is [here.](http://www.bartleby.com/130/2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/11 "2006-10-21T16:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Seems to me that if a person is attention-seeking enough to be \*\*famous \*\*for his wisdom, he should be disqualified from consideration. [/QUOTE] Proof that famous = attention-seeking? One can be unintentionally famous…and why would attention-seeking negate wisdom, anyway? 🙂 Paine is a great one. My nominee is Elizabeth I of England. Forget the “Golden Age”, she did a brilliant job just keeping England afloat (so to speak) during her reign. That she managed to propel it to its place at the top of commerce, religious tolerance, artistic excellence, colonization, etc. etc. etc., always boggles me when I think about how easy it would have been to seriously bugger up. Fantastic diplomat, but she got things _done_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/12 "2006-10-21T16:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Seems to me that if a person is attention-seeking enough to be \*\*famous \*\*for his wisdom, he should be disqualified from consideration. [/QUOTE] Well, are we listing people who said/wrote wise things, or those who lived wisely? 'Cause I suspect they’d be two different lists. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/13 "2006-10-21T20:03:01Z")
I’d think a valid argument could be made for nominating Benjamin Franklin. I’m not gonna make it, though; I’m at work and don’t have the time to dig up cites, etc… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/14 "2006-10-21T20:15:33Z")
Here are some of the wisest sayings I know. Murphy. “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Runyon’s Law: “The race isn’t always to the swift, and the battle isn’t always to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Ambrose Bierce. “CYNIC: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” Theodore Sturgeon. “90% of everything is crap”. Barnum. “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Hmm. There seems to be a pattern here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/15 "2006-10-21T20:39:50Z")
I’ll never forget the anonymous rural sage who, under conditions I’d rather not expand on too much here, told me the thing that most challenged my view of the world: “Okay, college boy, if you’re so smart and I’m so dumb, how come I’m the one holding the gun?” Confucius and Maimonides would have blushed with envy! Among famous philosophers, I’m partial to Jack Handey, who once wrote “I’d rather be rich than stupid.” Pretty much says it all! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/16 "2006-10-21T21:16:25Z")
How about [Plutarch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch) ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/17 "2006-10-21T21:35:42Z")
Gandhi Gandhi Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/18 "2006-10-21T22:29:41Z")
The Dalai Lama. (Who was, of course, raised from birth to be wise and spiritual. Or who was recognized at birth to already be wise and spiritual. Does it matter which?) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/19 "2006-10-21T22:49:24Z")
Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![Khangol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Khangol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khangol)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277/20 "2006-10-22T15:39:33Z")
Wise regarding human nature? Mark Twain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-the-wisest-men-in-history/377277.md?page=2)