Who is wise? He who learns from everyone: Pirkei Avot 4:1
By the My Daily Torah team · Updated
In short
It's from Pirkei Avot 4:1, part of the Mishnah, the first written collection of Jewish oral teachings, about 1,800 years old. One of the sages asks four questions, and every answer flips what you'd expect: the wise person learns from everyone, the strong person masters their own urges, the rich person is happy with what they have, and the honored person honors others.
Where does “Who is wise?” come from?
״איזהו חכם, הלומד מכל אדם״
“Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.”
Ask a room who the smartest person is and most people point to whoever knows the most. This line points somewhere else: to the person who's still willing to learn from anyone.
It opens chapter 4 of Pirkei Avot (“Ethics of the Fathers”), a short collection of life advice from the ancient sages. Pirkei Avot is part of the Mishnah, written down about 1,800 years ago.
The full teaching is four questions in a row. Each one asks who is wise, strong, rich or honored, gives a surprising answer, and then cites a Bible verse as proof.
What does each line actually mean?
״טוב ארך אפים מגבור ומשל ברוחו מלכד עיר״
“Better to be slow to anger than a mighty warrior, and to rule your temper than to capture a city.”
Wise: “the one who learns from every person.” That doesn't mean the right people or the impressive ones. It means everyone, including the intern, your little cousin and the guy you argued with online.
Strong: “the one who conquers their own urges.” The proof comes from Proverbs, King Solomon's book of short sayings about life. Being slow to anger beats being a warrior, and ruling your temper beats capturing a city.
Rich: “the one who's happy with their portion.” The proof is from Psalms, the Bible's book of songs and prayers. When you eat from the work of your own hands, you're fortunate and it's good for you.
The Mishnah adds a small reading of that verse: “fortunate” means in this world, and “good for you” means in the world to come (Judaism's term for life after this one).
Honored: “the one who honors other people.” The proof comes from the book of Samuel, where God says, “Those who honor Me, I will honor.” Respect, it turns out, comes back to the people who hand it out.
The twist hiding in the verse about wisdom
״מכל מלמדי השכלתי״
“From all my teachers I gained understanding.”
The proof for “learn from everyone” is Psalms 119:99. On its own, the verse is usually read as “I've gained more insight than all my teachers.”
That's because the tiny Hebrew prefix mi- can mean “more than” or “from.” The Mishnah picks the second meaning: “From all my teachers I gained insight.”
With one small shift, a line that sounds like bragging becomes a line about humility. The person who ends up knowing more than their teachers is the one who learned from all of them.
Quick note if you searched “Who is wise among you?”: people often mix that line up with this one, but it isn't from this Mishnah. The Pirkei Avot version is simply “Who is wise?”
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Does “happy with what you have” mean settling?
People sometimes hear “Who is rich?” as permission to stop trying. The verse attached to it says otherwise. It's about eating from the work of your own hands, so the happiness is about enjoying what you've built, not giving up on building.
The same goes for “strong.” It doesn't mean having no anger or no wants. The Proverbs verse praises someone who is slow to anger, which assumes the anger shows up. Strength is what you do next.
What this looks like on a regular Tuesday
Wise: in a meeting, the most useful question is often “What am I missing?”, asked of the quietest person in the room.
Strong: the text you don't send at 11 p.m. Writing it took feelings. Deleting it took strength.
Rich: your paycheck covers dinner with friends you actually like. Being rich is noticing that before you scroll to someone else's vacation photos.
Honored: the barista, the delivery guy, the coworker everyone talks over. The people who treat them like they matter tend to be the ones everyone ends up respecting.
Questions people ask
Is “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone” from the Bible?
Not exactly. It comes from Pirkei Avot 4:1, part of the Mishnah, which is about 1,800 years old. The Mishnah backs it up with a Bible verse, Psalms 119:99, read as “From all my teachers I gained insight.” The question and answer themselves are the sages' words.
Who is rich according to Pirkei Avot?
Pirkei Avot 4:1 says the rich person is the one who is happy with their portion. Wealth is measured by how you feel about what you have, not by the number in your account. The verse it quotes, Psalms 128:2, is about enjoying the work of your own hands.
Who is strong according to Pirkei Avot?
The one who conquers their own urges. Pirkei Avot 4:1 proves it with Proverbs 16:32: being slow to anger is better than being a mighty warrior, and controlling your temper is better than capturing a city. It's strength on the inside, and it's the hardest kind.
What does “he who learns from every man” mean?
It's an older translation of the same line in Pirkei Avot 4:1. In plain English, a wise person learns from everyone, not only from experts or people they admire. Wisdom here is a habit of listening, not a pile of facts you already have.
Sources
Every Hebrew line on this page is copied word for word from the source and checked against Sefaria, the free online library of Jewish texts. The English is our own translation.