Motivational Quotes

Fools and foolishness

In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.

- Eliot, George

Fools and foolishness Motivational Quotes

Best Quotes about Fools and foolishness

While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.

Grumet, Gerald W.

Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.

Proverb, Jewish

In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.

Eliot, George

He is mad past recovery, but yet he has lucid intervals.

Cervantes, Miguel De

A fellow who is always declaring that he's no fool, usually has his suspicions.

Mizner, Wilson

That's the penalty we have to pay for our acts of foolishness -- someone else always suffers for them.

Sutro, Alfred

The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his way.

Billings, Josh

Men who know themselves are no longer fools. They stand on the threshold of the door of Wisdom.

Ellis, Havelock

A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.

Proverb, Welsh

10.

The fool within himself is the object of pity, until he is flattered.

Steele, Sir Richard

11.

In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can't long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.

Erasmus, Desiderius

12.

It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.

Macmillan, Harold

13.

He who knows he who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool, shun him; He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child, teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep, wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise, follow him.

Proverb, Persian

14.

There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.

Butler, Samuel

15.

In days gone by, we were afraid of dying in dishonor or a state of sin. Nowadays, we are afraid of dying fools. Now the fact is that there is no Extreme Unction to absolve us of foolishness. We endure it here on earth as subjective eternity.

Baudrillard, Jean

16.

Colleges don't make fools, they only develop them.

Lorimer, Geroge

17.

The fool is always beginning to live.

Proverb

18.

The fool thinks himself to be wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. [Measure For Measure]

Shakespeare, William

19.

No one but a fool is always right.

Hare, David

20.

Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools.

Brown, Gene

21.

Fools are without number.

Erasmus, Desiderius

22.

Folly is perennial, yet the human race has survived.

Russell, Bertrand

23.

The fool has to do at last what the wise did at first.

Proverb, Italian

24.

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.

Heimel, Cynthia

25.

No one but a fool would measure their satisfaction by what the world thinks of it.

Goldsmith, Oliver

26.

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.

Boileau, Nicholas

27.

The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.

Disraeli, Isaac

28.

Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth's many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more, and float upward in our heedlessness, singing Gratia Dei sum quod sum.

Updike, John

29.

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.

Boileau, Nicholas

30.

If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me.

Proverb, Chinese

31.

Its quite true there's a fool born every minute. It's also quite true they don't die that fast.

32.

The world is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs of his neighbor.

Franklin, Benjamin

33.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.

Proverb, African

34.

In life, each of us must sometimes play the fool.

Proverb, Yiddish

35.

A fool and his money get a lot of publicity.

Bernstein, Al

36.

A foolishness is inflicted with a hatred of itself.

Seneca

37.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

38.

He is a fool that kisseth the maid when he may kiss the mistress.

Proverb, English

39.

Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.

Balzac, Honore De

40.

The haste of a fool is the slowest thing in the world.

Shadwell, Thomas

41.

Who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long.

Luther, Martin

42.

It is rude to silence a fool, and cruelty to let him go on.

43.

A fool often fails because he thinks what is difficult is easy.

Collins, John Churton

44.

The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.

Goldsmith, Oliver

45.

A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart.

Confucius

46.

Sometimes the fool who rushes in gets the job done.

Bernstein, Al

47.

Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the man afraid of the light?

Freehill, Maurice

48.

Every fool finds a greater one to admire them.

Bioleau

49.

It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

50.

A clever child brought up with a foolish one can itself become foolish. Man is so perfectible and corruptible he can become a fool through good sense.

Lichtenberg, Georg C.