Fundamentally, I suspect that the key difference between Shadow Milk Cookie and The Sage of Truth that allowed The Sage of Truth to be the one version of him that did not corrupt and seems to be doing relatively well is that The Sage of Truth has learned to be somewhat okay with not Knowing everything and finding meaning outside of Knowing.
I mean, to be clear, The Sage of Truth is still incredibly curious. It seems in every form, his inclination is toward Knowledge, which makes sense, considering that is all he was created to be. And The Sage of Truth still very much feels that pull. He teaches, he researches, he asks questions and has this deep inquisitive nature and desire to Know anything that is not already clear to him.
But it always stood out to me, that when The Sage of Truth is told by Timekeeper Cookie that it is best not to seek answers on the subject of Time, that it will risk bringing harm to him and to the world if he pursues that line of inquiry, he is very much receptive to backing off without having all the answers in his hands, even if he's not necessarily thrilled about it.
On the other hand, we see that Shadow Milk Cookie's perpetual downward spiral is fueled by the questions which consume. He has a deep intrusive need to understand the things that lie beyond his Knowledge, and we see it eat him alive. Shadow Milk Cookie was created to be The Fount of Knowledge, and he had never let The Fount of Knowledge go, he has never released the compulsive need to Know.
I think Shadow Milk Cookie is still deeply caught in feelings of obligation and depersonalization instilled in him from his creation, and I think holding onto questions- even ones that can never be answered and eat him alive from the inside out- is his way of grappling with that, trying to make sense of and rationalize his own suffering, to find the answers that will give justification (or at least closure) to countless centuries of pain.
Despite on the surface seeming like he should be further from The Fount of Knowledge than The Sage of Truth is (sage shares more aesthetic similarities, and i think we instinctively assume a teacher and sage would have more of a connection to knowledge than 'the beast of deceit'), I don't think Shadow Milk Cookie ever let go of being The Fount of Knowledge, complete with all the depersonalization and pain and confusion and endless failure that comes with that. But I think The Sage of Truth did.
At least to an extent. He hasn't completely overwritten his nature or removed the wounds that come with it, but The Sage of Truth seems to know not to cling to questions that threaten to destroy, he seems to have found it in himself not to spiral into the endless pit of increasingly nihilistic and despairing questions that can never be answered, and I suspect letting go of his 'purpose' sometimes, just a little bit, when he knows it's killing him, is what allowed him to keep his head above water when other versions of him couldn't.
(and i appreciate that this seems to be an ongoing struggle, that even well after preventing his fall, the sage of truth still seems to have to work on keeping his mind in check when he realizes it's edging into what could be a dangerous spiral of answer seeking. mental illness does not heal overnight, and it never disappears. the fount of knowledge suffered immensely and any version of him would never stop having to work to keep himself stable sometimes.)
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