An aphorism is nothing else but the slightest
QUOTES AND APHORISMS ON FOOLISHNESS
It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC, Greek dramatist)
Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.
Honore De Balzac (1799-1850, French novelist)
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.
Jean Baudrillard (French postmodern philosopher, writer)
A fool and his money get a lot of publicity.
Al Bernstein
Sometimes the fool who rushes in gets the job done.
Al Bernstein
Take all the fools out of this world and there wouldn't be any fun living in it, or profit.
Josh Billings (1815-1885, American humorist, lecturer)
The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his way.
Josh Billings (1815-1885, American humorist, lecturer)
There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't.
Josh Billings (1815-1885, American humorist, lecturer)
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake (1757-1827, British poet, painter)
A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.
Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711, French literary poet, critic)
Every fool finds a greater one to admire them.
Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711, French literary poet, critic)
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711, French literary poet, critic)
However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711, French literary poet, critic)
Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools.
Gene Brown
There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680, British poet, satirist)
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain -- and most fools do.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955, American trainer, author, "How to Win Friends and Influence People")
How many fools does it take to make up a public?
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794, French writer, journalist, playwright)
When he said we were trying to make a fool of him, I could only murmur that the Creator had beat us to it.
Ilka Chase (1905-1978, American author, actor)
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)
A fool often fails because he thinks what is difficult is easy.
John Churton Collins
A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
No one but a fool would measure their satisfaction by what the world thinks of it.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774, Anglo-Irish author, poet, playwright)
In the vain laughter of folly, wisdom hears half its applause.
George Eliot (1819-1880, British novelist)
Men who know themselves are no longer fools. They stand on the threshold of the door of Wisdom.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939, British psychologist)
Fools are without number.
Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466-1536, Dutch humanist)
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.
Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466-1536, Dutch humanist)
The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men.
Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466-1536, Dutch humanist)
Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754, British novelist, dramatist)
There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world's ills will be cured.
Henry Ford (1863-1947, American industrialist, founder of Ford Motor Company)
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
Most fools think they are only ignorant.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
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.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the man afraid of the light?
Maurice Freehill
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.
Ibn Gabirol
Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865, British novelist)
He knows so little and knows it so fluently.
Ellen Glasgow (1874-1945, American novelist)
The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774, Anglo-Irish author, poet, playwright)
While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.
Gerald W. Grumet
No one but a fool is always right.
David Hare (1947-, British playwright, director)
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.
Cynthia Heimel
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
Horace (BC 65-8, Italian poet)
The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work supremely well, without attending to appearance.
Michael Korda (1919-, American publisher)
Folly follows us at all stages of life. If one appears wise, it is only because his folly is proportioned to his age and fortune.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
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.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963, British academic, writer, Christian apologist)
There are foolish people who know their folly and skillfully use it.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
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.
Georg C. Lichtenberg (1742-1799, German physicist, satirist)
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, American President (16th))
Colleges don't make fools, they only develop them.
Geroge Lorimer
Who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long.
Martin Luther (1483-1546, German leader of the protestant reformation)
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.
Harold MacMillan (1894-1986, British Prime Minister)
A fellow who is always declaring that he's no fool, usually has his suspicions.
Wilson Mizner (1876-1933, American author)
A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.
Jean Baptiste Moliere (1622-1673, French playwright)
Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
To believe everything is to be an imbecile. To deny everything is to be a fool.
Charles C. Noble
Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744, British poet, critic, translator)
If you have a dog, don't throw away bones.
African Proverb (Sayings of African origin)
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
African Proverb (Sayings of African origin)
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
Chinese Proverb (Sayings of Chinese origin)
If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me.
Chinese Proverb (Sayings of Chinese origin)
Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.
English Proverb (Sayings of British origin)
The fool has to do at last what the wise did at first.
Italian Proverb (Sayings of Italian origin)
Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.
Jewish Proverb (Sayings of Jewish origin)
He who knows nothing neither doubts nor fears anything.
Mexican Proverb (Sayings of Mexican origin)
What is sensible today may be derangement at another time.
Nigerian Proverb (Sayings of Nigerian origin)
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.
Persian Proverb (Sayings of Persian origin)
If you buy things you don't need, you will soon be selling things you do need.
Philipino Proverb
What a fool does in the end, the wise do in the beginning.
Spanish Proverb (Sayings of Spanish origin)
A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
Welsh Proverb (Sayings of Welsh origin)
In life, each of us must sometimes play the fool.
Yiddish Proverb (Sayings of Yiddish origin)
They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.
Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902, American republican politician)
Folly is perennial, yet the human race has survived.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, British philosopher, mathematician, essayist)
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, British philosopher, mathematician, essayist)
Fool hath no dialogue within himself; the first thought carrieth him shout the reply of a second.
George Savile
The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860, German philosopher)
A foolishness is inflicted with a hatred of itself.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (BC 3-65 AD, Roman philosopher, dramatist, statesman)
The haste of a fool is the slowest thing in the world.
Thomas Shadwell (c.1642--1692, British playwright)
He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
Jesters do oft prove prophets.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
The dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
The fool thinks himself to be wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor) Source: Measure For Measure
Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950, Irish-born British dramatist)
On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are created jerks.
Allen H. Smith
Seek but provision of bread and wine, fools to flatter, and clothing fine; and nothing of God shall ever be thine.
Wes Smith
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903, British philosopher)
The fool within himself is the object of pity, until he is flattered.
Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729, British dramatist, essayist, editor)
That's the penalty we have to pay for our acts of foolishness -- someone else always suffers for them.
Alfred Sutro
The folly of all follies is to be love sick for a shadow.
Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892, British poet)
Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862, American essayist, poet, naturalist)
I was young and foolish then; now I am old and foolisher.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
A fool and his money are soon parted. The rest of us wait for tax time.
Author Unknown
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
Author Unknown
It is rude to silence a fool, and cruelty to let him go on.
Author Unknown
Its quite true there's a fool born every minute. It's also quite true they don't die that fast.
Author Unknown
The fool is always beginning to live.
Author Unknown
The fool needs company, the wise solitude.
Author Unknown
Why fools are endowed by nature with voices so much louder than sensible people possess is a mystery. It is a fact emphasized throughout history.
Author Unknown
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.
John Updike (1932-, American novelist, critic)
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