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Foolishness is the lack of wisdom. In this sense it differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence. An act of foolishness is sometimes referred to as a folly, and people who do it a lot may be called Fools.
- FOLLY, n. That "gift and faculty divine" whose creative and controlling energy inspires Man's mind, guides his actions and adorns his life.
- Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Dictionary (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
- If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
- To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd,
And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.- Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part II (1664), Canto III, line 923.
- Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.
- Lord Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), line 6.
- Stultitiam simulare loco, prudentia summa est.
- To act the fool at times is truly wise.
- Dicta Catonis advice to his son, Loeb Classical Library vol. 434, p. 607.
- To act the fool at times is truly wise.
- More knave than fool.
- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part I, Book IV, Chapter 2.
- Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.
- Stephen Colbert Knox College commencement address (3 June 2006)
- A fool must now and then be right by chance.
- William Cowper, Conversation (1782), line 96.
- The solemn fog; significant and budge;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.- William Cowper, Conversation (1782), line 299.
- Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.- William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book III, line 187.
- A fool who knows his foolishness is wise at least to that extent, but a fool who thinks himself wise is a fool indeed.
- Dhammapada, Chapter 5
- Though all his life a fool associates with a wise man, he no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup.
- Dhammapada, Chapter 5
- Si 50 millions de personnes disent une bêtise, c'est quand même une bêtise.
- If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
- Anatole France, as quoted in Listening and Speaking : A Guide to Effective Oral Communication (1954) by Ralph G. Nichols and Thomas R. Lewis, p. 74.
- If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
- The first Degree of Folly, is to conceit one’s self wise; the second to profess it; the third to despise Counsel.
- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1744).
- A fool and a wise man are alike both in the starting-place—their birth, and at the post—their death; only they differ in the race of their lives.
- Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), Of Natural Fools, Maxim IV.
- The right to be a cussed fool
Is safe from all devices human,
It's common (ez a gin'l rule)
To every critter born of woman.- James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers (1848), Second Series. No. 7, Stanza 16.
- The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.
- William Osler, address to the Canadian Medical Association, Montreal (17 September 1902); published in The Montreal Medical Journal, Vol. XXXI (1902).
- The rest on outside merit but presume,
Or serve (like other fools) to fill a room.- Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, Book I, line 136.
- So by false learning is good sense defac'd;
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools,
And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), Part I, line 25.
- We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), Part II, line 438.
- For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), Part III, line 66.
- The fool is happy that he knows no more.
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34), Epistle II, line 264.
- Whether the charmer sinner it, or saint it,
If folly grow romantic, I must paint it.- Alexander Pope, Moral Essays (1731-35), Epistle II, line 15.
- Die and endow a college or a cat.
- Alexander Pope, Moral Essays (1731-35), Epistle III. To Bathurst, line 96.
- A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
- Proverbs 17:25, King James Version
- And when it is said to them, "Believe as the people have believed," they say, "Should we believe as the foolish have believed?" Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish, but they know (it) not.
- Quran 2:13
- (Hud) said, "O my people, there is not foolishness in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds.
- Quran 7:67
- Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the foolish.
- Quran 7:199
- Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; we have frequently to exhaust the part of error, and even of folly, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom.
- Friedrich Schiller, Philosophical Letters, Preface
- Sir, for a quart d'écu he will sell the fee-simple of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the entail from all remainders.
- William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well (1600s), Act IV, scene 3, line 311.
- A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
A motley fool; a miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool;
Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun.- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act II, scene 7, line 12.
- O noble fool!
A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act II, scene 7, line 33.
- I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad: and to travel for it too!
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act IV, scene 1, line 26.
- The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act V, scene 1, line 34.
- Fools are not mad folks.
- William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1611), Act II, scene 3, line 105.
- Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in 's own house.
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act III, scene 1, line 134.
- Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.
- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II (c. 1597-99), Act II, scene 2, line 154.
- How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!
- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II (c. 1597-99), Act V, scene 5, line 52.
- A fool's bolt is soon shot.
- William Shakespeare, Henry V (c. 1599), Act III, scene 7, line 132.
- The fool hath planted in his memory
An army of good words; and I do know
A many fools, that stand in better place,
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter.- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (late 1590s), Act III, scene 5, line 71.
- Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595-96), Act III, scene 2, line 115.
- To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield.
- William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (c. 1607-08), Act II, scene 4, line 54.
- This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit.- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (c. 1601-02), Act III, scene 1, line 67.
- Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass; so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself.
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (c. 1601-02), Act V, scene 1, line 19.
- I hold him but a fool that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not.- William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1590s), Act V, scene 4, line 133.
- You may as well
Forbid the sea for to obey the moon
As or by oath remove or counsel shake
The fabric of his folly.- William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (c. 1610-11), Act I, scene 2, line 426.
- For take thy ballaunce if thou be so wise,
And weigh the winde that under heaven doth blow;
Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise;
Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow.- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (1589-96), Book V, Canto II, Stanza 43.
- Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.- Edward Young, Love of Fame (1725-28), Satire II, line 281.
- At thirty man suspects himself a fool;
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.- Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night I, line 417.
- To climb life's worn, heavy wheel
Which draws up nothing new.- Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night III.
- Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.
- Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night IV. Last line.
- We bleed, we tremble; we forget, we smile—
The mind turns fool, before the cheek is dry.- Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night V, line 511.
- Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 283-85.
- The folly of one man is the fortune of another.
- Francis Bacon, Of Fortune.
- Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.
- A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.
- Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, L'Art Poétique (1674), I, 232.
- Fool me no fools.
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Last Days of Pompeii, Book III, Chapter 6.
- Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame.
- Lord Byron, Monody on the Death of the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan, line 68.
- Mas acompañados y paniguados debe di tener la locura que la discrecion.
- Folly is wont to have more followers and comrades than discretion.
- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. 13.
- Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.
- George Chapman, All Fools, Act V, scene 1, line 292.
- Les plus courtes folies sont les meilleures.
- The shortest follies are the best.
- Pierre Charron, Las Sagesse, Book I, Chapter 3.
- Fool beckons fool, and dunce awakens dunce.
- Charles Churchill, Apology, line 42.
- Stultorum plena sunt omnia.
- All places are filled with fools.
- Cicero, Epistles, IX. 22.
- Culpa enim illa, bis ad eundem, vulgari reprehensa proverbio est.
- To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbial disgrace.
- Cicero, Epistles, X. 20.
- Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
- Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 26.
- L'exactitude est le sublime des sots.
- Exactness is the sublimity of fools.
- Attributed to Fontenelle, who disclaimed it.
- A rational reaction against irrational excesses and vagaries of skepticism may * * * readily degenerate into the rival folly of credulity.
- William Ewart Gladstone, Time and Place of Homer, Introductory.
- He is a fool
Who only sees the mischiefs that are past.- Homer, The Iliad, Book XVII, line 39. Bryant's translation.
- Stultorum incurata malus pudor ulcera celat.
- The shame of fools conceals their open wounds.
- Horace, Epistles, I. 16. 24.
- Adde cruorem
Stultitiæ, atque ignem gladio scrutare.- To your folly add bloodshed, and stir the fire with the sword.
- Horace, Satires, II. 3. 275.
- A man may be as much a fool from the want of sensibility as the want of sense.
- Mrs. Jameson, Studies, Detached Thoughts, p. 122.
- Fears of the brave and follies of the wise.
- Samuel Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes.
- Un fat celui que les sots croient un homme de mérite.
- A fool is one whom simpletons believe to be a man of merit.
- Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères, XII.
- Hélas! on voit que de tout temps
Les Petits ont pâti des sottises des grands.- Alas! we see that the small have always suffered for the follies of the great.
- Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, II. 4.
- Ce livre n'est pas long, on le voit en une heure;
La plus courte folie est toujours la meilleure.- This book is not long, one may run over it in an hour; the shortest folly is always the best.
- La Girandière, Le Recueil des Voyeux Epigrammes.
- Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit.
- He who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as he thinks.
- François de La Rochefoucauld, Maximes, 209.
- Un sot n'a pas assez d'étoffe pour être bon.
- A fool has not material enough to be good.
- François de La Rochefoucauld, Maximes, 387.
- A fool! a fool! my coxcomb for a fool!
- John Marston, Parasitaster.
- I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe
The bosom of a friend will hold a secret
Mine own could not contain.- Philip Massinger, Unnatural Combat, Act V, scene 2.
- Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so.
- Quoted by Camden as a saying of Dr. Metcalf.
- Quantum est in rebus inane!
How much folly there is in human affairs.- Persius, Satires, I. 1.
- An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.
- Plutarch, Morals, On the Training of Children.
- No creature smarts so little as a fool.
- Alexander Pope, Prologue to Satires, line 84.
- Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease,
Whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please.- Alexander Pope, Second Book of Horace, Epistle II, line 326.
- Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
- Proverbs, XVII. 28.
- Every fool will be meddling.
- Proverbs, XX. 3.
- Answer a fool according to his folly.
- Proverbs, XXVI. 5.
- Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
- Proverbs, XXVII. 22.
- The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
- Psalms, XIV. 1; LIII. 1.
- Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt, stulti eruditis videntur.
- Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
- Quintilian, X. 7. 22.
- After a man has sown his wild oats in the years of his youth, he has still every year to get over a few weeks and days of folly.
- Jean Paul Richter, Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces, Book II, Chapter V.
- Stultus est qui fructus magnarum arborum spectat, altitudinem non metitur.
- He is a fool who looks at the fruit of lofty trees, but does not measure their height.
- Quintus Curtius Rufus, De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni, VII, 8.
- Insipientis est dicere, Non putaram.
- It is the part of a fool to say, I should not have thought.
- Scipio Africanus. See Cicero, De Off, XXIII. 81. Valerius, Book VII. 2. 2.
- Where lives the man that has not tried,
How mirth can into folly glide,
And folly into sin!- Walter Scott, Bridal of Triermain, Canto I, Stanza 21.
- Inter cætera mala hoc quoque habet
Stultitia semper incipit vivere.- Among other evils folly has also this, that it is always beginning to live.
- Seneca the Younger, Epistolæ Ad Lucilium, 13.
- 'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.- E. R. Sill, The Fool's Prayer.
- He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells, and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.
- Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir, Volume I, p. 259.
- He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summers.
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part III, Chapter V. Voyage to Laputa.
- Chi conta i colpi e la dovuta offesa,
Mentr' arde la tenzon, misura e pesa?- A fool is he that comes to preach or prate,
When men with swords their right and wrong debate. - Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme, V. 57.
- A fool is he that comes to preach or prate,
- Le sot est comme le peuple, qui se croit riche de peu.
- The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little.
- Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues, Réflexions, CCLX.
- Qui se croit sage, ô ciel! est un grand fou.
- He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.
- Voltaire, Le Droit du Seigneur, IV. 1.
- The greatest men
May ask a foolish question, now and then.- John Wolcot, The Apple Dumpling and the King.
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