Elder Wisdom Quotes & Sayings

Clearly older women and especially older women who have led an active life or elder women who successfully maneuver through their own family life have so much to teach us about sharing, patience, and wisdom. — Alice Walker

Strive to have the faith of a child; endeavour to have the wisdom of an elder. — Matshona Dhliwayo

The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys orders, remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and by marks of honour, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom, justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon. — Pliny The Elder

Faithful I have sought to be in all my ways Since my conception in fire and in water.
"To be a fount of wisdom and purity of spirit
Far more prized than veins of gold and silver
And to this my soul has aspired.

"Not due to my own pursuits
That man named me the Faithful Elder.
A Higher Oath than mine has fixed
My pleasant boundaries
And the times of my bursting forth into the open
Not of my choosing.

"The countenances of multitudes I have beheld
And have seen them take delight in my greeting.
They throng close to my doorway
Men, women and children
Eager witnesses of my mystery.

"From every corner of the earth, bringing
The languages of ancient lands upon their lips
And their spices upon their garments.

"And what they find takes on a meaning of its own
Within each
Amidst the resplendent pillar. — Myrtle Brooks

It's clear that politeness to one's elders can't always be justified on the basis of the elder's superior wisdom. It's just that it's not attractive to see a young person answering an older person back. — Zoe Heller

I'm now the elder in the position of doling out wisdom and trying to mend fences. — Jane Fonda

As an elder I mistrust the wisdom of age. — Mason Cooley

Blessed is the society that has oldies. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Respect those elder to you in years, in knowledge and spiritual attainment and act with love and compassion with those who are younger or less fortunate than you. — Radhe Maa

Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity. — Cato The Elder

I believe that when an elder dies, a library is burned: vast sums of wisdom and knowledge are lost. Throughout the world libraries are ablaze with scant attention. — Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey

No one is wise at all times. — Pliny The Elder

Treasure the wisdom of old age.
Learn from elder people and be wise. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Each young person is a poet of sorts, trying to sort out the poetics of their inner life and its relation to the great world around it. Each elder is a philosopher of sorts, trying to sort out the meanings and gleanings of a life as well as the necessary implications of the presence of death. — Michael Meade

The life we've fashioned in this time is a singular one. One minute you're a child and you have no control over your life, the next you're an adult with responsibilities and no control over your life, and then you're an elder with wisdom, a wealth of experience...and no control over yourself or your life. — Jessa Callaver

Now that I am sixty, I see why the idea of elder wisdom has passed from currency. — John Updike