Wisdom - The Greatest Treasure
Seek knowledge and understanding; wisdom guides all other virtues rightly.
Wisdom was so valued that Odin sacrificed his eye for it and hung on the World Tree for nine nights to gain the runes. Wisdom meant not just knowledge but understanding when and how to apply it. Without wisdom, even courage becomes recklessness.
A fool thinks himself wise, but a wise man knows himself a fool.
Wisdom was considered the master virtue that directed all others properly.
Poetic Edda
Written about in
- What Norse wisdom says about what to say and what to leave unsaid
This library cites the same stanza, Havamal 26, for two separate concepts, which is fitting: knowing the limits of your knowledge is most of what wisdom means here. Odin paid an eye and hung nine nights on the World Tree for the runes, and the poem still says the first visible sign of wisdom is quiet.