Motivational Quotes

Fools and foolishness

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

- Proverb, Italian

Fools and foolishness Motivational Quotes

Best Quotes about Fools and foolishness

When he said we were trying to make a fool of him, I could only murmur that the Creator had beat us to it.

Chase, Ilka

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

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

Proverb, Chinese

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

Proverb, Yiddish

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

Steele, Sir Richard

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

Butler, Samuel

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

Ellis, Havelock

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.

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

Billings, Josh

10.

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

11.

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

Confucius

12.

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

Mizner, Wilson

13.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

14.

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

Lorimer, Geroge

15.

Seek but provision of bread and wine, fools to flatter, and clothing fine; and nothing of God shall ever be thine.

Smith, Wes

16.

The great God endows His children variously. To some he gives intellect -- and they move the earth. To some he allots heart -- and the beating pulse of humanity is theirs. But to some He gives only a soul, without intelligence -- and these, who never grow up, but remain always His children, are God's fools, kindly, elemental, simple, as if from His palette the Artist of all had taken one color instead of many.

Rinehart, Mary Roberts

17.

Fools are without number.

Erasmus, Desiderius

18.

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

Brown, Gene

19.

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

Luther, Martin

20.

There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won t.

Billings, Josh

21.

Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor.

Fielding, Henry

22.

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.

23.

There are four types of men in this world: 1. The man who knows, and knows that he knows; he is wise, so consult him. 2. The man who knows, but doesn't know that he knows; help him not forget what he knows. 3. The man who knows not, and knows that he knows not; teach him. 4. Finally, there is the man who knows not but pretends that he knows; he is a fool, so avoid him.

Gabirol, Ibn

24.

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

Freehill, Maurice

25.

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

Proverb, Welsh

26.

Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

27.

A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.

Moliere

28.

You ask whether I have ever been in love: fool as I am, I am not such a fool as that. But if one is only to talk from first-hand experience, conversation would be a very poor business. But though I have no personal experience of the things they call love, I have what is better -- the experience of Sappho, of Euripides, of Catallus, of Shakespeare, of Spenser, of Austen, of Bronte, of anyone else I have read.

Lewis, C. S.

29.

Sometimes the fool who rushes in gets the job done.

Bernstein, Al

30.

The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.

Disraeli, Isaac

31.

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

Proverb, African

32.

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

Collins, John Churton

33.

Take all the fools out of this world and there wouldn't be any fun living in it, or profit.

Billings, Josh

34.

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

Eliot, George

35.

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

Grumet, Gerald W.

36.

A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes.

Frost, Robert

37.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Lincoln, Abraham

38.

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

39.

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

40.

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

Proverb, Italian

41.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

42.

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

Shakespeare, William

43.

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it.

Shaw, George Bernard

44.

No one but a fool is always right.

Hare, David

45.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

Boileau, Nicholas

46.

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.

Boileau, Nicholas

47.

Folly is perennial, yet the human race has survived.

Russell, Bertrand

48.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Horace

49.

The fool is always beginning to live.

Proverb

50.

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