Wise Fool Quotes & Sayings

The wise are wise only because they love. The fool are fools only because they think they can understand love. — Paulo Coelho

Praise has different effects, according to the mind it meets with; it makes a wise man modest, but a fool more arrogant, turning his weak brain giddy. — Owen Feltham

Even a wise man knows doubt from time to time, it is the fool who allows it to rule his judgement. — Jennifer Melzer

... the wise Man that holds his Tongue, says more than the Fool who speaks. — Thomas Fuller

There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise. — Francis Bacon

How wise are they that are but fools in love! — Josh Cooke

Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed. — Edward Young

A wise man alters his misconceptions when he learns the truth; a fool tries to beat the truth into the mold of his misconceptions. — Sarah A. Chrisman

Even a fool is wise after an event. — Albert Einstein

Howard thought, Is it not true: A move of the head, a step to the left or right, and we change from wise, decent, loyal people to conceited fools? Light changes, our eyes blink and see the world from the slightest difference of perspective and our place in it has changed infinitely: Sun catches cheap plate flaking
I am a tinker; the moon is an egg glowing in its nest of leafless trees
I am a poet; a brochure for an asylum is on the dresser
I am an epileptic, insane; the house is behind me
I am a fugitive. His despair had not come from the fact that he was a fool; he knew he was a fool. The despair came from the fact that his wife saw him as a fool, as a useless tinker, a copier of bad verses from two-penny religious magazines, an epileptic, and could find no reason to turn her head and see him as something better. — Paul Harding

Most fools think he is the wisest person but the most wise person thinks he is a fool. — Debasish Mridha

A word from the wise is better than a thesis from a fool. — Matshona Dhliwayo

The wise man knows when to keep silent. Only the fool tells all he knows. — Neil Gaiman

Who are a little wise the best fools be. — John Donne

A wise man understands, an intelligent man knows, but a fool pretends to know. — Debasish Mridha

A fool can read a thousand books and learn nothing.
A wise person can read one and become great. Using books for decoration is what ordinary men do. Using books for knowledge is what intelligent people do. — Matshona Dhliwayo

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. — William Blake

The fool generalizes the particular; the nerd particularizes the general; some do both; and the wise does neither — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Don't confess to being a fool or a wise man; let others decide for you — Nancy B. Brewer

A wise man is the master of his own mind" "A fool is a slave to his" - Publilius Syrus — Gareth F. Baines

The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies than the fool from his friends. — Benjamin Franklin

A wise person can never be truly poor;
a foolish person can never be truly rich. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Fortune, to show us her power in all things, and to abate our presumption, seeing she could not make fools wise, has made them fortunate. — Michel De Montaigne

A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times. — John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. — Niccolo Machiavelli

This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man's art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit. — William Shakespeare

One opinion can make a fool out of a once wise person — Will Leamon

The why is plain as way to parish church:
He that a fool doth very wisely hit
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not,
The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool. — William Shakespeare

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool. — Philip Dormer Stanhope

The wise needn't ask, the fool asks in vain. — Ursula K. Le Guin

Man is wise only while in search of wisdom; when he imagines he has attained it, he is a fool. — Solomon Ibn Gabirol

A fool is wise in his eyes. — King Solomon

A fool shouts charge when he should retreat, A coward shouts retreat when he should charge and a wise man knows the difference. I charge. — Tonny K. Brown

PERENNIAL wisdom from divine revelation and human experience dictates that all earthly things great or small, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, sad or happy, fool ... ish or wise must finally come to an end. It is from this sobering reality that the end of executive rule has finally come for Robert Mugabe who has had his better days after a quarter of a century in power. — Jonathan Moyo

A fool does not see the same trees a wise man sees. — Rick Hilles

The wise man is glad to be instructed, but a self-sufficient fool falls flat on his face. — Anonymous

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool. — Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The fool's crime is the crime that is found out and the wise man's crime is the crime that is not found out. — Wilkie Collins

The folly and the glory of the world ... the wild, the wise and the wicked ... the hero, the madman, the wanderer and the fool ... the earth, the seas, the wild heavens ... are all part of an endless, unfolding tapestry, woven by time and hemmed by memory. — Brian Holguin

A wise man is closer to God than a fool will ever be to himself. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Wise men have more to learn of fools than fools of wise men. — Michel De Montaigne

Though all one's life a fool associates with a wise person,one no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup. — Gautama Buddha

In the Russian Orthodox Church there is the concept of the Holy Fool. It means someone who is a fool to the ways of the world, but wise to the ways of God. I think that Ted, from the moment he saw the baby, knew that he could not possibly be the father ... Perhaps he saw in that moment that if he so much as questioned the baby's fatherhood, it would mean humiliation for the child and might jeopardize his entire future ... Perhaps he understood that he could not reasonably expect an independent and energetic spirit like Winnie to find him sexually exciting and fulfilling.
... And so he decided upon the most unexpected, and yet the simplest course of all. He chose to be such a Fool that he couldn't see the obvious. — Jennifer Worth

The wise man understands his weakness and seeks to find a lesson from it. The fool lets it control and destroy him. — Christie Golden

I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal. I saw him put down the other day with an 80 ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged. I protest I take these wise men, that crow so at these set kind of fools, no better than the fools' zanies. — William Shakespeare

When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom. — Frank Herbert

The fool who thinks he is wise is just a fool. The fool who knows he is a fool is wise indeed. — Gautama Buddha

I care not whether a man is good or evil; all that I care / Is whether he is a wise man or a fool. Go! put off holiness, / And put on intellect. — William Blake

Few things are necessary to make the wise man happy while no amount of material wealth would satisfy a fool. I am not a fool. — Og Mandino

He who plays the fool at pleasure can be wise if he will. — Publilius Syrus

The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions. The time of the one is long, because he does not know what to do with it; so is that of the other, because he distinguishes every moment of it with useful or amusing thoughts
or, in other words, because the one is always wishing it away, and the other always enjoying it. — Joseph Addison

Fools take criticism and dish it back. The wise take it and turn it to their advantage. — Michael Hyatt

Most of my failures can be ascribed to the fact that I chose that which was 'easy' over that which was 'right'. And while it's 'right' to admit this to myself, it isn't 'easy.' So, which choice am I going to make this time? — Craig D. Lounsbrough

The wise men were all fools, what to do? — Bruce Springsteen

What a wise man knows is great,
what a fool knows is little,
and what God knows is infinite.
God does not condemn a man for not knowing,
but condemns a man for knowing and not doing. — Matshona Dhliwayo

A wise man seeks much counsel ... a fool listens to all of it. — Larry Burkett

All things and all people in life have to sink or swim on their own merits, not their reputation; that just as a wise man can say a foolish thing, a fool can say something wise. — Vincent Bugliosi

I Have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words. — Joseph Addison

The errors of a wise man are literally more instructive than the truths of a fool. The wise man travels in lofty, far-seeing regions; the fool in low-lying, high-fenced lanes; retracing the footsteps of the former, to discover where he diviated, whole provinces of the universe are laid open to us; in the path of the latter, granting even that he has not deviated at all, little is laid open to us but two wheel-ruts and two hedges. — Thomas Carlyle

The fool strikes. The wise man smiles, and watches, and learns. Then strikes. — Joe Abercrombie

Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it blast thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor too near, lest it burn thee. If thou like it, it deceives thee; if thou love it, it disturbs thee; if thou hunt after it, it destroys thee. If virtue accompany it, it is the heart's paradise; if vice associate it, it is the soul's purgatory. It is the wise man's bonfire, and the fool's furnace. — Francis Quarles

An old fool is worse than a young one: For the young may always grow wise. (Zohair) — Idries Shah

For there will be no memory of the wise man or of the fool; in the days to come all will be forgotten, and alas, the wise man dies the same death as the fool! — Anonymous

The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. — Karen Kingsbury

A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. — Anonymous

But no matter how much parents and grandparents may have sinned against the child, the man who is really adult will accept these sins as his own condition which has to be reckoned with. Only a fool is interested in other people's guilt, since he cannot alter it. The wise man learns only from his own guilt. He will ask himself: Who am I that all this should happen to me? To find the answer to this fateful question he will look into his own heart. — C. G. Jung

A fool who recognises his own ignorance is thereby in fact a wise man, but a fool who considers himself wise - that is what one really calls a fool. — Gautama Buddha

Wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod. 14 Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. — Anonymous

Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing satisfies the fool; - and this is the reason why so many of mankind are miserable. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" - which is but a matter of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Pull all your eggs in the one basket and - WATCH THAT BASKET." - Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar — Mark Twain

Remember that in all miseries lamenting becomes fools, and action, wise folk. — Philip Sidney

You're wrong," Lord Dudley said. "You've always been a fool."
"The fool thinks he is wise," G retorted. "But the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
That was a great line, he thought. He tried to remember where he'd stashed the quill and paper. — Cynthia Hand

Quoting E. B. White is the easiest way I know of to fool people into thinking that I am perceptive, witty, and wise. — Peter Behrens

Plato taught us that, "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." The sages throughout the ages have echoed this very sentiment about the inferior man. The book of Proverbs states, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions." And Chuang Tzu taught, "Fools regard themselves as already awake." They think they are smarter than other people. — Bohdi Sanders

A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of
his mind. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

Because when you are ready to fight at every moment, you are a coward. Fight is a cover up. You want to prove you're a brave man. The very wanting, the desire to prove, means that you are not. A man who is really wise will never in anyway be searching for opportunities to prove that he is wise. A fool is always in in search to prove he is wise. — Osho

My Son, these maxims make a rule An lump them ay thegither: The Rigid Righteous is a fool, The Rigid Wise anither. — Robert Burns

Fools exploit the world; the wise transfigure it. — Neville Goddard

A foolish son has no advantage over an orphan. — Matshona Dhliwayo

The wise person questions himself, the fool others. — Henri Arnold Seyrig

I'll not have an exchange with an impudent fool." [Oswald]
He's not impudent," said Jones [the puppet]. "With proper inspiration, the lad sports a woody as stout as a mooring pin. Ask your lady."
I nodded in agreement with the puppet, for he is most wise for having a brain of sawdust.
Impudent! Impudent! Not impotent!" said Oswald, frothing a bit now. — Christopher Moore

By the time a fool learns how to hold a spear, the lion has eaten him. — Matshona Dhliwayo

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. — Bruce Lee

Why is it that at the very moment I need to appear graceful I stumble and fall like a klutz, as though this scene had never played through my mind differently a million times? — Richelle E. Goodrich

Whose work is it but your own to open your eyes? But indeed the business of the universe is to make such a fool out of you that you will know yourself for one, and begin to be wise. — George MacDonald

The fool sees naught but folly; and the madman only madness. Yesterday I asked a foolish man to count the fools among us. He laughed and said, "This is too hard a thing to do, and it will take too long. Were it not better to count only the wise?" — Khalil Gibran

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. — Solomon Ibn Gabirol

A fool marvels at rare things, but a wise man at common ones. — Confucius

Fools are wise until they speak. — Randle Cotgrave

A grifter's got an irresistible urge to be the guy who's wise. There's nothin' to whipping a fool. Hell, fools are made to be whipped. But to take another pro. Even your partner, who knows you and has his eye on you. That's a score! No matter what happens. — Donald E. Westlake

A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell. Thomas Fuller — Jessica Shirvington

Not wise, perhaps, to be rude to the Pope's favorite son, but my viper tongue still required a fool now and then on which to exercise its edges, and Juan Borgia served admirably in place of drunken innkeepers and tavern cheats. — Kate Quinn

He Who Knows And Knows That He Knows Is A Wise Man - Follow Him;
He Who Knows Not And Knows Not That He Knows Not Is A Fool - Shun Him — Confucius

A bad reader soon puts to flight both wise men and fools. — Horace

A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks. — Heinrich Heine

It is easy to kill. It is equally easy to destroy glass windows. Any fool can do either. Why is it only the wise who perceive that it is wisdom to let live, when even lunatics can sometimes understand that it is better to open a window than to smash the glass? — S.M. Stirling

The wise have pitied the fool that hath striven to give a life
In the world of time and space among the bulks of actual things,
To dream that was dreamed in the heart, and that only the heart could hold.
Oh wise men, riddle me this: What if the dream come true? — Padraig Pearse

A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell. — Thomas Fuller

The poet is like the wise fool or like a version of the stand-up, because we're standing, we're doing stand-up. That's exactly what we're doing. — Eileen Myles

A dog to vomit does turn,
A fool to folly but return,
The wise err and learn,
Gaining from each burn. — Munindra Misra