I have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-11-17), The Spectator, No. 225
(Source)
Quotations about:
minds
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”
Sig Lines
~
Attributed to many people, most prominently Eleanor Roosevelt and Hyman Rickover, but the origin appears to be a recollection of a statement by Henry Thomas Buckle: "Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." -- Charles Stewart, Haud Immemor: Reminiscences of Legal and Social Life in Edinburgh and London 1850-1900 (1901). More information here.
Those who know their own minds do not always know their own hearts.
[Tous ceux qui connaissent leur esprit ne connaissent pas leur coeur.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶103 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1665) edition as "Bien des gens connoissent leur esprit, qui ne connoissent pas leur cœur." In manuscript, given as "On peut connaître son esprit; mais qui peut connoître son cœur?"
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Many People are Acquainted with their own Wit, that are not Acquainted with their own Heart.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶104]Many People are acquainted with their own Abilities, that are not acquainted with their own Hearts.
[tr. Stanhope (1706), ¶104]Men are sometimes well acquainted with their head, when they are not so with their heart.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶216; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶100]A man may be well acquainted; with his head, whilst he is far from being so with his heart.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶188]It is not all who know their heads who know their hearts.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶106]Those who know their minds do not necessarily know their hearts.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶103]Those who know their minds best, know their hearts least.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶103]Not every one who knows his own mind knows his own heart also.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶103]Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶103]Not everyone who understands his own mind understands his heart.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶103]All those who know their minds do not necessarily know their hearts.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶103]
