The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work supremely well, without attending to appearance.
—Michael Korda (b.1933) English-born Writer, Novelist
Young people tell what they are doing, old people what they have done and fools what they wish to do.
—French Proverb
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.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
Send a fool to close the shutters and he’ll close them all over town.
—Yiddish Proverb
A fellow who is always declaring that he’s no fool, usually has his suspicions.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Playwright, Entrepreneur
The folly of all follies is to be love sick for a shadow.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
—Welsh Proverb
The fool has set in his heart that he can get more money through the tiring of his muscle and the starvation of his brain-but he can’t.
—William D. Hoard (1836–1918) American Elected Rep
Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others, and to forget his own.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.
—Samuel Butler
A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
Every fool finds a greater one to admire them.
—Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux (1636–1711) French Poet, Satirist, Literary Critic
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
—Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux (1636–1711) French Poet, Satirist, Literary Critic
An erudite fool is a greater fool than an ignorant fool.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
To be a man’s own fool is bad enough; but the vain man is everybody’s.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
Its quite true there’s a fool born every minute. It’s also quite true they don’t die that fast.
—Unknown
Never argue with a stupid person. First they’ll drag you down to their level, then they will beat you with experience.
—Anonymous
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.
—Yiddish Proverb
There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.
—Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923) German-born American Mathematician, Engineer
The greatest of fools is he who imposes on himself, and in his greatest concerns thinks he knows that which he has least studied, and of which he is profoundly ignorant.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.
—English Proverb
It is rude to silence a fool, and cruelty to let him go on.
—Indian Proverb
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 Head of State
In the vain laughter of folly, wisdom hears half its applause.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
July 4 Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool’s coat still.
—Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801) French Writer, Epigrammatist