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A wise person is often called a "sage." The technical philosophical term for the opposite of wisdom is "folly."

As with all decisions, a wise decision must be made with incomplete information. But to act wisely, a sage must plan a reasonable future situation, desire the outcome to be broadly beneficial, and then act.

A standard philosophical definition says that wisdom consists of "making the best use of available knowledge."

Many modern authorities on government, religion and philosophical ethics say that wisdom connotes an "enlightened perspective." This perspective is often defined in a utilitarian way, as effective support for the long-term common good.

Insights and acts that many people agree are wise tend to:

• arise from a viewpoint compatible with many ethical systems,
• serve life, public goods or other impersonal values, not narrow self-interest
• be grounded in but not limited by past experience or history and yet anticipate future likely consequences
• be informed by multiple forms of intelligence – reason, intuition, heart, spirit, etc..

Traditionally, wisdom is related to virtue. It is tautologicalIn logic, a tautology is a statement which is true by its own definition, and is therefore fundamentally uninformative. Logical tautologies use circular reasoning within an argument or statement. In linguistics, a tautology is a redundancy due to superflu that it is wise to be virtuous. Some philosophers believe that virtues harmonize, that is, in order to succeed at any virtue, one must succeed somewhat at all of them. In this view, sages must have virtues such as humilityHumility is the state of being humble . While people may have different ideas about the meaning of humility, a protypical humble person is generally thought to be unpretentious and modest: someone who does not think that he or she is better or more import, compassionCompassion is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce such suffering. Compassionate acts are generally considered those which take into account the suffering of others and attempt to alleviate that suffering a, composure , and being able to laugh at oneself. Many liberalIn terms of politics, the word liberal (or Liberal can refer to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism or something in accordance to this ideology. Note: the words "liberal" or "liberalism" can be different in various countries and can be related to ts and religionReligion sometimes used interchangeably with faith, is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the practices and institutions associated with such belief. Borobudur, a Buddhist stupa built between 750 and 850 Adriaens select a wider set of virtues for sages, including impartial loveCharity is the short form for charitable trust, a charitable foundation, or a corporation set up entirely for charitable purposes. These are set up for specific causes, such as curing diseases; providing goods or services for people or areas that lack the, toleranceThis page is about "tolerance" as a social concept. For other uses and meanings please see physiological tolerance and tolerance in engineering. Tolerance is a social, cultural and religious term applied to the collective and individual practice of not pe for dissonance, paradox, nuance , ambiguity and uncertainty.

Some people say that the the most universally and usefully-wise sages sense, work with and align themselves and others to life. In this view, sages help people appreciate the intrinsic wholeness and interconnectedness of life.

Classically, wisdom is considered to come with age. Some religions consider wisdom a gift granted by God. The Jewish book of Proverbs in the Old Testament states `Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom`.