Introduction to Wisdom

THE TRADITIONAL WISDOM LITERATURE
Cultures around the world have valued wisdom,
and through their literatures have tried to help people develop it

Chronology of Wisdom Literature in the Western Tradition is Richard Trowbridge's latest contribution to the history of the study of wisdom. (PDF)

Works available for free downloading and online reading

Many Voices / One Truth An online archive that presents 11,000+ "insights of spirituality" from a wide variety of sources including "major psychologists, philosophers, writers, scholars and leading religious personalities."

Chinese Wisdom Full-text English translations of Confucianism's major works, the I Ching, and major Taoist works including 30 translations of the Tao Teh Ching, several of Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), and others.

The Internet Sacred Text Archive is an extensive collection of online texts from the world's major religions and spiritual traditions.

Wisdom Classics compiled by Sanderson Beck is another extensive collection of wisdom-related texts from Eastern and Western philosophical and spiritual traditions.

Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion offerings from the extensive online books collection at the University of Pennsylvania. Indexed according to the Library of Congress system.

Tablet of Wisdom (also know as LAWH-I-HIKMAT) is a Bahá'í text by Bahá’u’lláh.

The Book of Wisdom (also known as The Wisdom of Solomon) appears to have been written by an Alexandrian Jew familar with classical Greek thought. This is the King James translation.

From the Harvard Classics: Selections from Confucian, Hebrew, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic spiritual literature.

Paper-and-ink books.  Find out more about them by clicking the links

Compilations of selections from the wisdom literature are a helpful way to get acquainted with that literature. Here are several suggestions from Copthorne Macdonald

Links to Sources of Judaic Materials compiled by Mike Murphy, contains links to a wide range of sources for Judaic books, audio tapes, and CDs.