W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook (1949), entry for 1901
Sometimes misquoted as "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
Sometimes misattributed to Anatole France
Note that Russell does say something similar in Marriage and Morals (1929): "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
Misattributed
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British playwright, novelist, short story writer
"1901", p. 76. Sometimes misquoted as "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing". Sometimes misattributed to Bertrand Russell or Anatole France
A Writer's Notebook (1946)
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) English poet, and peer of the realm
Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II, as quoted in The Book of Days : A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities (1832) by Robert Chambers, Viol. II, July 26, p. 126.
“If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
Si 50 millions de personnes disent une bêtise, c'est quand même une bêtise. <br class="br">As quoted in Listening and Speaking : A Guide to Effective Oral Communication https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=es&id=0CcWYwjwyRgC&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=foolish (1954) by Ralph G. Nichols and Thomas R. Lewis, p. 74 <br class="br">Also misattributed to Bertrand Russell, by Laurence J. Peter, in The Peter Prescription : How To Make Things Go Right (1976), but he subsequently attributed to France in Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977). <br class="br">Derived variant: If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie. <br class="br">W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook (1949), entry for 1901 <br class="br">Variant: If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
“Impatience can cause wise people to do foolish things.”
Janette Oke (1935) Canadian writer
Chrétien de Troyes French poet and trouvère
Nus ne puet estre trop parliers
Qui sovent tel chose ne die
Qui torné li est affolie,
Car li sages dit et retrait:
Qui trop parole, il se mesfait.
Source: Perceval or Le Conte du Graal, Line 1650.
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) English poet, and peer of the realm
About King Charles II of England, as quoted in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Vol. XLIV (January - June 1857) p. 592; It is said to that this was written on the door of Charles II’s bedchamber, and that on seeing it, the king replied, “This is very true: for my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers’....”
Other
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VIII : From God to God
Context: And He is the God of the humble, for in the words of the Apostle, God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (I Cor. i. 27) And God is in each of us in the measure in which one feels Him and loves Him. "If of two men," says Kierkegaard, "one prays to the true God without sincerity of heart, and the other prays to the an idol with all the passion of an infinite yearning, it is the first who really prays to the idol, while the second really prays to God." It would be better to say that the true God is He to whom man truly prays and whom man truly desires. And there may even be a truer revelation in superstition itself than in theology.
