quotations about fools
The difference between a wise and foolish man is this--the former sees much, thinks much, and speaks little; but the latter speaks more than he either sees or thinks.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
W.C. FIELDS
The learned Fool writes his Nonsense in better Language than the unlearned; but still 'tis Nonsense.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1754
What ails the fool to laugh? Does something please
His vain conceit? Or is 't a mere disease?
Fool, giggle on, and waste thy wanton breath;
Thy morning laughter breeds an ev'ning death.
FRANCIS QUARLES
Emblems
We must often consider, not what the wise will think, but what the foolish will be sure to say.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
Like gold in the hands of a savage are the sayings of wisdom in the mouth of a fool.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
When dunces call us fools, without proving us to be so, our best retort is to prove them to be fools, without condescending to call them so.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Fools and wise-folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.
KEN ALSTAD
Savvy Sayin's
Fools always lead a mob.
PAUL H. YARBROUGH
"A Congress of Fools", Communities Digital News, May 6, 2019
Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Even a fool learns something once it hits him.
HOMER
The Iliad
It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous.
Resign yourself to be the fool you are.
T. S. ELIOT
The Cocktail Party
Fools beget their own kind and here was the proof of it and that as only foolish women would have aught to do with them their progeny were twice doomed.
CORMAC MCCARTHY
The Crossing