Wisdom of the Elders

I have always enjoyed reading good quote books. Even as a youngster, I found that I enjoyed reading quote books that my parents or grandparents had in the house. As a teenager, I would read books such as Apples of Gold over and over again, meditating on the wisdom that they held for those who were willing to spend the time and effort to actually assimilate the wisdom that these books provided. Goethe put it this way, “It is delightful to transport one’s self into the spirit of the past to see how a wise man has thought before us.” In my opinion, this is what a good quote book does for the reader.

Over the years my interest in quote books remained just as strong as it had been as a teenager and my personal collection of quote books grew and grew. I literally bought every one that I ran across and quickly devoured each one that I brought home. Some of these books were good and some were filled with mostly quotes that could best be described as nothing but filler material – void of any real wisdom and only meant to entertain those who care little about true wisdom.

Of course there is a place for humorous quote books or quote books filled with quotes from celebrities or sports figures whose words are only included because of their name and not because of the actual content, but those were not the type of books that I found interesting. I was only interested in reading quotes which contained wisdom and something which could be of value in my life, not fluff. I have never really been as impressed by what the current celebrities thought about life, as I have been by what the sages believed and taught.

This attitude has led to many a disappointed hour reading what I had hoped would be a book full of wisdom and sage advise, only to find that it was a book full of celebrities and well known people trying to be witty, with a few morsels of wisdom scattered throughout like pieces of gold in a river bed of worthless pebbles. This was a bit frustrating to say the least. It seemed that most of the quote books that I ran across had a handful of great quotes which were useful in guiding people in ways to improve their lives and tons of quotes which were utterly useless for anything more than a quick moment of entertainment.

Although this was a bit wearisome, it led to a specific habit which has served me well over the years – highlighting. I began to highlight every book that I read, marking only those quotes or passages which I considered worthy of reading again or going back and meditating on at a later date. All of my books were highlighted and some even color coded with different colors for different categories so I could quickly go back and find exactly what I wanted to study.

My frustration in finding the wisdom that I wanted in quote books also led me to go straight to the source to find the wisdom that the sages had to offer instead of hoping to find the wisdom that I was looking for bundled up in a nice, neat package for quick and easy access. I began to study the religious texts from throughout the ages and across the world. I read the original works of men which time had proven to be men of great wisdom and insight. I began to study paremiology, the study of proverbs, and research the origins of many of the wise sayings that we all recognize.

In short, I searched the world of literature for all of the wisdom that I could find, and not simply wisdom, but universal wisdom – wisdom which holds true throughout time and in various locations. What I found through this exercise is that there is indeed such a thing as universal wisdom. There are values and principles which hold true for people throughout the world. I discovered that the same proverb that was found in America could also be found in Asia or Europe, although it may be phrased a little differently in each place. The same thing applied to the universal principles of wisdom.

The same wisdom that has been taught for centuries in our country can also be found in other countries and other time periods. Specific principles concerning specific actions have been taught throughout the centuries in all different cultures and locations. Human beings have certain traits that appear to be universal and because of this they can be counted on to behave in a certain predictable manner; this has held true throughout the ages. Therefore certain wisdom pertaining to human behavior generally holds true regardless of the time period or geographic location.

One example to illustrate my point is people’s tendency to talk too much and say things that they may later regret. I have found proverbs and writings from virtually every culture which warn people of the danger of speaking too much or speaking without first thinking of what you should and should not say. This is a good example of a universal human trait, and it is also a good example of universal wisdom which is good advice for people throughout the world, regardless of their culture or other factors. True wisdom does not grow old or become outdated.

As you might imagine, my library quickly grew to require a sizable number of bookshelves to hold all of the books which I had purchased over years of researching wisdom (the library takes a dim view of highlighting their books). My collection of wisdom literature quickly grew to monstrous proportions, with each book being completely covered in a spectrum of colors from my highlighting what I considered to be the important parts. I had an open mind where wisdom was concerned. My philosophy was (and is) that you can learn wisdom from anyone or any source. You simply have to use what is useful and disregard what is not useful.

I found wisdom in the ancient texts of Egypt, China, and India, and I also found wisdom from the Vikings and the Native Americans. The source did not matter. What mattered was that the wisdom rang true in my spirit. I devoured text after text, highlighting each as I went for future reference, but found one small problem – when I wanted to refer back to the wisdom which I had highlighted, it was scattered throughout many, many different books. This was a bit of a inconvenience to say the least. I wanted all of this wisdom easily located in one central book for easy reference and study, so I began to put all of my highlighted wisdom into a single computer data base.

I wanted this wisdom to be convenient and to the point, spelled out in short anecdotes and maxims for easy reference in order to keep it fresh in my mind. What I wanted was the kind of quote book that I had spent years hoping to find in the bookstores – a quote book filled with wisdom, minus the fluff. This was where Wisdom of the Elders was conceived. I wanted to compile the best quote book on wisdom available. Notice that I said that I wanted Wisdom of the Elders to be the best quote book available, not the most exhaustive quote book available. As Christian Bovee stated, “A book should be luminous, not voluminous.”

There are many reference books available which contain hundreds of pages of quotes from various sources and pertaining to various subjects. This is not what Wisdom of the Elders is, nor its goal. Wisdom of the Elders is not an exhaustive reference book or an encyclopedia-size book full of various quotes. It contains quotes specifically dedicated to wisdom and living a life of excellence. As Francis Bacon stated, “Some books are to be tasted, other to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Wisdom of the Elders is to be chewed and digested, then applied to your life.

Goethe said that a collection of anecdotes and maxims is the greatest treasure for a man of the world. Wisdom of the Elders contains over 5,100 anecdotes, proverbs, maxims, and insights from the sages and some of the wisest men and women the world has known. It is divided into 59 different categories, each addressing either specific character traits or subjects designed to give the reader insight and help the reader improve his or her life in order to live a life of excellence. As with anything that you read, you should meditate on how these wise sayings apply to your life, take what you find useful, and disregard what doesn’t “feel” right to you.

None of the wise words included in this book will be of any use in your life if you don’t take the time to meditate on them and actively apply them. You can have all the money in the world at your disposal, but it will not do you any good until you actually put that money to use. Wisdom of the Elders gives you access to an abundance of wisdom, how it affects your life is completely up to you. Elizabeth Drew stated that the test of literature is whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it. Hopefully Wisdom of the Elders will pass the test and you will live more intensely after reading it and applying it to your own life.

Bohdi Sanders, Ph.D.
The Wisdom Warrior