Paul Graham, a prolific essayist, attempts a thoughtful reply:
“‘Wise’ and ‘smart’ are both ways of saying someone knows what to do. The difference is that “wise” means one has a high average outcome across all situations, and “smart” means one does spectacularly well in a few.
The distinction is similar to the rule that one should judge talent at its best and character at its worst.
So a wise person knows what to do in most situations, while a smart person knows what to do in situations where few others could.”