Japanese saying to do with wisdom - anyone know what it might be?

[PavlovtheCat]

I have had a Bad Day at work. DH and I were talking about the fact that I have thought I was good at my job, and the evidence suggests perhaps I am not as good as I thought I was, I had been using an unidentified marker of my own competence, and that in reality maybe I know much less than I thought I did. I recall once someone saying to me that those who think they are clever are often not as clever as they think.

DH then said there was a Japanese saying relating to this, to do with the wisdom to understand our lack of knowledge. I would like to read it. I need some inspiration and motivation to get me through my tough days (current, there are a few) and help me learn and progress.

It is is not the Serenity Prayer, or Desiderata.

Anyone have any clue what it could be?

guess not.
i will jfgi then

Are you thinking of Socrates, saying "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"? (The idea being, I think, that it is either stupid or hubristic to assume oneself to be wise...)

Not Japanese, though, so probably not what you were thinking of.... Sorry.

PS Sorry to hear about your bad day.

Totallyunheardof that is the one!!! DH accepts that he is wrong, not being japanese and all

Thank you!

it also fits with what someone told me once about clever people not really being that clever. I used to think i was relatively clever. Now I realise I am so not. Not at all. And I sort of feel a bit stupid for ever thinking I might have been, if that makes sense.

Bad Day - just one of those things I guess. Had my confidence shaken badly. There is no such thing as a 'shit sandwich' in my work, it is just shit

He wo hitte, shiri tsubome?

Pavlov.

FWIW, I work with many people who are very very very clever indeed, but I am not sure that they are all necessarily very wise. Indeed, I am fairly sure that the opposite is often sometimes the case. Having your confidence shaken is a horrid feeling, but the wise thing to do is to see it all as part of a learning experience, to pick yourself up, and to go on a bit sadder but also a bit wiser...

Or something!

Mary. (Had to google it. Am not clever!)

mary , i should put that up, people will consider me to be ver ver clever indeed, and I won't interpret for them!