Who is the man who can speak to the strong? Where is the fool who can talk to the wise? Men who are dead now have learnt this long, Bitter is wisdom that fails when it tries.

Derek Walcott
Who is the man who can speak to the strong?...
Who is the man who can speak to the strong?...
Who is the man who can speak to the strong?...
Who is the man who can speak to the strong?...
About This Quote

The fool who tries to speak to the wise is like a man on a tightrope. He can’t just stand there and talk on the outside of the rope, he has to go right on top of it and pull himself up on it. And if men who are dead now have learnt this long, how do we learn? By talking to people who have already become wiser than us and who have gone through the same trials and tribulations we will face. We learn from them and they teach us so we can become better than we were before.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable. - Jess C. Scott
  2. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends. - Friedrich Nietzsche
  3. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection - Sharon Salzberg
  4. In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me... - Dorothy Parker
  5. You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and... - Sharon Salzberg
More Quotes By Derek Walcott
  1. Who is the man who can speak to the strong? Where is the fool who can talk to the wise? Men who are dead now have learnt this long, Bitter is wisdom that fails when it tries.
  2. Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.
  3. But drunkenly, or secretly, we swore, Disciples of that astigmatic saint, That we would never leave the island Until we had put down, in paint, in words, As palmists learn the network of a hand, All of its sunken, leaf-choked ravines, Every neglected, self-pitying inlet...
  4. As human beings we’ve certainly suffered the loss of awe, the loss of sacredness, and the loss of the fact that we’re not here– we’re not put on earth– to shape it anyway we want.. You want something to happen with poetry, but it doesn’t...
  5. The future happens. No matter how much we scream.
Related Topics