--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is the beginning of wisdom when you…" description: "\"It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by, and it's persistent and aggravated..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png" --- # It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the… ![“It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by, and it's persistent and aggravated imbecility to pretend you can live without any.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png) > “It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by, and it's persistent and aggravated imbecility to pretend you can live without any.” [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wisdom starts when you accept you must choose which rules to follow, and reject the illusion of living rulelessly. **In simple terms:** Choose guiding rules, reject rule‑free illusion. Key Takeaway Pick and live by purposeful principles. Themes wisdom choice principles Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - career decisions - personal relationships - ethical dilemmas - social norms Key Concepts ethical agency personal autonomy Questions to Reflect On - What rules truly serve you? - How do you balance freedom with structure? A Different Perspective Choosing rules can limit flexibility and creativity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Persistent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persistent/) [Rules](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rules/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [You can't pick and choose the rules depending on the colour of someone's skin. That is what the racists do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemi-badenoch/you-can-t-pick-and-choose-the-rules-depending-on-the-colour-of/) [Kemi Badenoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemi-badenoch/) > [Only sometimes when we pick and choose among the rules we discover later that we have set aside something precious in the process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-simonson/only-sometimes-when-we-pick-and-choose-among-the-rules-we-discover/) [Helen Simonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-simonson/) > [Our bodies are at once the receiving and transmitting stations for life itself. It is the highest wisdom to recognize this fact and train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-st-denis/our-bodies-are-at-once-the-receiving-and-transmitting-stations-for/) [Ruth St. Denis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-st-denis/) > [It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-wisdom-to-recognize-necessity-when-all-other-courses-have-been/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ “I think we should stop treating \["God works in mysterious ways"\] as any kind of wisdom and recognize it as the transparently defensive propaganda… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-c-dennett/i-think-we-should-stop-treating-god-works-in-mysterious-ways-as-any/) [Daniel C. Dennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-c-dennett/) > [“It is a sign of wisdom to recognize those things we cannot change about ourselves and our fate”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliet-gael/it-is-a-sign-of-wisdom-to-recognize-those-things-we-cannot-change/) [Juliet Gael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliet-gael/) > [I pray daily, not for more riches, but for more wisdom with which to recognize, embrace and enjoy what I already possess.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/i-pray-daily-not-for-more-riches-but-for-more-wisdom-with-which-to/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [“The wisdom to recognize and halt follows the know-how to pollute past rescue. The treaty’s signed, but the cancer ticks in your bones. Until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/the-wisdom-to-recognize-and-halt-follows-the-know-how-to-pollute-past/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [“I wish you the wisdom to recognize where your past relationships were poisoned… and the strength to break the cycle of accepting less than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-maraboli/i-wish-you-the-wisdom-to-recognize-where-your-past-relationships-were/) [Steve Maraboli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-maraboli/) > [While we believe there are fruitful opportunities to update and improve old rules, we do not want to set up a review process that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-thompson/while-we-believe-there-are-fruitful-opportunities-to-update-and/) [Fred Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-thompson/) > [There's a bunch of rules that I want to break. I have a rule-breaking streak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rostam-batmanglij/there-s-a-bunch-of-rules-that-i-want-to-break-i-have-a-rule-breaking/) [Rostam Batmanglij](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rostam-batmanglij/) > [In my opinion, there are no rules! If you want to rock a trend, I say go for it, and just know that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mally-roncal/in-my-opinion-there-are-no-rules-if-you-want-to-rock-a-trend-i-say-go/) Mally Roncal > [“I have rules, and I want you to comply with them. They are for your benefit and for my pleasure. If you follow these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-james/i-have-rules-and-i-want-you-to-comply-with-them-they-are-for-your/) [E.L. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-james/) > [The truth is that I want to fight in the old Pride rules, I want to kick guys in the face on the ground.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wanderlei-silva/the-truth-is-that-i-want-to-fight-in-the-old-pride-rules-i-want-to/) [Wanderlei Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wanderlei-silva/) > [“You have to break the rules, if you want to change the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blekingegadebanden/you-have-to-break-the-rules-if-you-want-to-change-the-world/) Blekingegadebanden ## More by Wallace Stegner > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/within-yourself-you-became-a-grave-for-her-as-you-were-a-grave-for/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/towns-are-like-people-old-ones-often-have-character-the-new-ones-are/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“The creative writer is compulsively concrete . . . . His fictional house should be haunted by ideas, not inhabited by them; they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/the-creative-writer-is-compulsively-concrete-his-fictional-house/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Hard writing makes easy reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/hard-writing-makes-easy-reading/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/you-married-me-but-you-didn-t-marry-what-you-could-make-out-of-me/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/wisdom-is-knowing-what-you-have-to-accept/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“His mouth is full of ecology, his mind is full of fumes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/his-mouth-is-full-of-ecology-his-mind-is-full-of-fumes/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can't have a by-product unless you've got a product first .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/poetry-ought-to-be-a-by-product-of-living-and-you-can-t-have-a-by/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/something-will-have-gone-out-of-us-as-a-people-if-we-ever-let-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like-computers-nothing-to-do-but/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [ “\[Y\]ou were too alert to the figurative possibilities of words not to see the phrase \[angle of repose\] as descriptive of human as well… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/y-ou-were-too-alert-to-the-figurative-possibilities-of-words-not-to/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) [Explore all 251 Wallace Stegner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## More Aggravated quotes > [The computer actually may have aggravated management's degenerative tendency to focus inward on costs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/the-computer-actually-may-have-aggravated-management-s-degenerative/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [My dad told me at the very beginning of my career, basically, "If you're gonna have a megaphone, you're gonna need to use it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-feldman/my-dad-told-me-at-the-very-beginning-of-my-career-basically-if-you-re/) [Ben Feldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-feldman/) > [When I tell a child something the first time, I'm nice. The 15th time, I start to get aggravated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abby-lee-miller/when-i-tell-a-child-something-the-first-time-i-m-nice-the-15th-time-i/) [Abby Lee Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abby-lee-miller/) > [I honestly really don't get aggravated at all. I just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-lochte/i-honestly-really-don-t-get-aggravated-at-all-i-just-go-with-the-flow/) [Ryan Lochte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-lochte/) > [ I take life for what it has to offer me. I don't get aggravated about \[getting older\]. The wrinkles on my face are a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eartha-kitt/i-take-life-for-what-it-has-to-offer-me-i-don-t-get-aggravated-about/) [Eartha Kitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eartha-kitt/) > [Animals are just pure, uncomplicated entities of creation from God. They live like the Maasai do in Kenya-for each day is forever to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-browne/animals-are-just-pure-uncomplicated-entities-of-creation-from-god/) [Sylvia Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-browne/) > [Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-nestell-bovee/courage-enlarges-cowardice-diminishes-resources/) [Christian Nestell Bovee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-nestell-bovee/) > [Called on the people of New Hampshire . . . to confess before God their aggravated transgressions and to implore His pardon and forgiveness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josiah-bartlett/called-on-the-people-of-new-hampshire-to-confess-before-god-their/) [Josiah Bartlett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josiah-bartlett/) > [The police and other law enforcements agencies are going to concentrate their efforts on organised crime, especially organised aggravated robbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-nqakula/the-police-and-other-law-enforcements-agencies-are-going-to/) Charles Nqakula > [Our lives are led, and our decisions made, within a network of needs and wants, some natural, some arising from the acts of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-cohen/our-lives-are-led-and-our-decisions-made-within-a-network-of-needs/) Carl Cohen > [all daughters, even when most aggravated by their mothers, have a secret respect for them. They believe perhaps that they can do everything better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-bottome/all-daughters-even-when-most-aggravated-by-their-mothers-have-a/) [Phyllis Bottome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-bottome/) > [For a detective or street police, the only real satisfaction is the work itself; when a cop spends more and more time getting aggravated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-simon/for-a-detective-or-street-police-the-only-real-satisfaction-is-the/) [David Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-simon/) > [A ghost is someone who hasn't made it - in other words, who died, and they don't know they're dead. So they keep walking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-browne/a-ghost-is-someone-who-hasn-t-made-it-in-other-words-who-died-and/) [Sylvia Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-browne/) > [You really don’t want to take that tone with me. (Varyk) Well, I do have several others we can choose from. Contemptuous. Angry. Snide.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/you-really-don-t-want-to-take-that-tone-with-me-varyk-well-i-do-have/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [In what a delightful communion with God does that man live who habitually seeketh love! With the same mantle thrown over him from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-lyman-magoon/in-what-a-delightful-communion-with-god-does-that-man-live-who/) [Elias Lyman Magoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-lyman-magoon/) Browse all 44 Aggravated quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by, and it's persistent and aggravated imbecility to pretend you can live without any.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stegner" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-recognize-that-the-best-you/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aggravated" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-recognize-that-the-best-you/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/wallace-stegner-1352_aggravated_it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-r_795611.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to…” — Wallace Stegner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wallace Stegner", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is the beginning of wisdom...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-recognize-that-the-best-you/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/it-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom-when-you-recognize-that-the-best-you/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```