"Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen." ― Carl Sandburg Topic(s): Wisdom More From Carl Sandburg "Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder." "To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damn hard." "When I was writing pretty poor poetry, this girl with midnight black hair told me to go on." More In Wisdom "When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age."― Victor Hugo "Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young."― Rabindranath Tagore "Wisdom and goodness are twin-born, one heart must hold both sisters, never seen apart."― William Dean Howells