The Wisdom Paradox

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Wisdom is a strange thing.

The Wisdom Paradox is this: when we realise we are less wise than we thought, we become wiser.

Anthony de Mello, in his book One-Minute Wisdom , relates a master’s thoughts on wisdom:

It always pleased the Master to hear people recognize their ignorance. “Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance,” he claimed.
When asked for an explanation, he said, “When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.”

Or as the popular wisdom goes:

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

The naivety of youth is a lovely thing. As a teenager, you can be sure that the grown-ups are doing it all wrong, and the path to better is obvious. Then, as an adult, it somehow seems more difficult than before.

My experience is that most things are harder than I thought they would be. Perhaps after getting something to work, I'm wiser than I was before I started, when I thought it would be easy. But I keep making that mistake, which perhaps shows how slowly wisdom arrives.

That which seems like a false step is just the next step.

— Agnes Martin

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

— William Shakespeare
(As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 1)

A step backwards after making a wrong turn is a step in the right direction.

— Kurt Vonnegut

Related Ideas to the Wisdom Paradox

Also see:

The Dunning-Kruger Effect
I did this sketch for Big Ideas Little Pictures, but I ran out of space to include it (and am not allowed to post it online yet). Send me proof of purchase, and I’ll send it to you.
Unknown Unknowns
In Theory, Practise is the Same as Theory
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom
Physics envy
The Johari Window
The Lucretius Problem
The Consciousness-Competence Framework
Optimism Bias
Hofstadter’s Law
The judgment and experience quote also has its own sketch in Big Ideas Little Pictures, p.126

Published 9 Aug 2026

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