quotations about fools
There is one way for a fool to appear wise, that is, to be silent.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Silence is the virtue of fools.
FRANCIS BACON
De Augmentis Scientiarum
Some are contented to wear the mask of foolishness in order to carry on their vicious schemes.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.
DOUG LARSON
attributed, Quotable Quotes
Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.
EDWARD YOUNG
Love of Fame: The Universal Passion in Seven Characteristical Satires
Ordinary fools are all right; you can talk to them, and try to help them out. But pompous fools -- guys who are fools and are covering it all over and impressing people as to how wonderful they are with all this hocus pocus -- THAT, I CANNOT STAND! An ordinary fool isn't a faker; an honest fool is all right. But a dishonest fool is terrible!
RICHARD FEYNMAN
Surely You're Joking
A man who tells you he's no fool has his suspicions.
KEN ALSTAD
Savvy Sayin's
Contend not in wisdom with a fool, for thy sense maketh much of his conceit;
And some errors never would have thriven, had it not been for learned refutation.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
Ah, well, I am a great and sublime fool. But then I am God's fool, and all His works must be contemplated with respect.
MARK TWAIN
letter to W. D. Howells, 1877
The greater idiot ever scolds the lesser
HERMAN MELVILLE
Moby Dick
Old fools are greater fools than young ones.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
Fools may our scorn, not envy raise,
For envy is a kind of praise.
JOHN GAY
Fables
Fools are very often found united in the strictest intimacy, as the lighter kinds of wood can be the most closely glued together.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.
AESOP
Aesop's Fables
A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Maxims for Revolutionists
The greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Fools are very often found united in the strictest intimacies, as the lighter kinds of woods are the most closely glued together.
WILLIAM SHENSTONE
Essays on Men and Manners
O! I am Fortune's fool.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Romeo and Juliet
As a fish out of his native element, so is the fool in the society of the wise.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs