“There is no liar like the one who lies to himself. He has a fool indeed for an audience.”

“Indeed, right is with us and in us, and there is no one else who says this but that he is a liar and an impostor.”

Muhammad al-Mahdi (869–941) 12th and last Imam in Twelver Shia Islam

“The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“A man who says he feels no fear is either a fool or a liar.”

Fred Dibnah (1938–2004) English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering

“A man learns to skate by staggering about and making a fool of himself. Indeed he progresses in all things by resolutely making a fool of himself.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

“The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense — he is always satisfied with himself.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

“A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.”

William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian pathologist, physician, educator, bibliophile, historian, author, cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospi…

“There was never a genius who was not thought a fool until he disclosed himself; whereas he is a fool then only.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

“He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

“He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.”

Charles Péguy (1873–1914) French poet, essayist, and editor