Solomon Ibn Gabirol Quotes

At the head of all understanding – is realizing what is and what cannot be, and the consoling of what is not in our power to change.

The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.

There are three types of friends: those like food without which you can't live those like medicine which you need occasionally and those like an illness which you never want.

My friend is he who will tell me my faults in private.

A wise man’s questions contain half the answer.

The Sage was asked to define good manners? to which he replied, To bear patiently the rude ones.

Who seeks more than he needs, hinders himself from enjoying what he has. Seek what you need and give up what you need not. For in giving up what you don’t need, you’ll learn what you really do need. Solomon Ibn Gabirol, an eleventh-century Spanish poet-philosopher

A man’s mind is hidden in his writings: criticism brings it to light.

If you want to keep something concealed from your enemy, do not disclose it to your friend.

The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.

As long as a word remains unspoken, you are its master; once you utter it, you are its slave.

And when I was born, I drew in common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do." by Solomon Ibn Gabirol