"Wisdom comes from paying attention to wise people." That's a quote by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Tsunetomo was a samurai in the late 1600's and early 1700's. I somewhat disagree with this statement. To me, wisdom comes from experience. While you can learn a lot from paying attention to wise people, these people also had to learn.
Pay attention to everything, but especially wise people, would seem to be a better quote to me. There is so much you can learn every day, if you just open yourself to it. Everyone has something that they can teach you. Whether it is how to act or how not to act in any given situation, you can definitely learn something. One thing that I like to do, but don't get a chance to do a lot, is to have conversations with older people that I don't know to see what makes them tick. I have learned so many life lessons in that way in the past! You would be amazed at the range of topics that will come up, if you just open yourself to listening to other people and ask open-ended questions. Reading is also a great way to learn and gain wisdom. Take old Yamamoto here, for instance. I originally saw only the one quote by him, but in knowing that he was a samurai, I looked him up and found that he had written an entire book of his thoughts on the warrior code... or bushido as we call it now. His book was: Hagakure: "The Book Of The Samurai" Below are some other quotes from that book. What I learned from looking at that book is that Tsunetomo was likely a bit of a psychopath! Below are some of his wiser sayings... I have left out the ones that lament about how men no longer want to behead prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs! Oy! "There is certainly nothing more important in life than what we do at the present moment. A person’s entire life consists of nothing more than one moment piled on top of another, over and over again. Once enlightened to this, the warrior has nothing else to worry about, because he realizes that he has only to live in the present moment with the utmost intensity." "A man’s life is only a vapor that vanishes in an instant. One should spend his life doing that which he enjoys. As short as life is, it is foolish to spend it doing only the things one hates." "The secret to a happy marriage is this: Treat your spouse all of your life as you did when you first met and there will never be room for discord." All said, I agree with the last two quotes wholeheartedly. For the record, after Tsunetomo actually gave up being a samurai after his original Lord died. He did not like the man who took over, and instead of serving someone he did not agree with, he went into the mountains and became a monk. His book was written by another samurai who went into the mountains to find him and learn from him. Learn wisdom from wise people, but also read and learn from the words of wise people who you have not met. Everyone has something that they can teach you. Just be open to the lessons you can learn.
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