
“A little group of wise hearts is better than a wilderness full of fools.”
The Crown of Wild Olive, lecture III: War, section 114 (1866).
The Triple Fool, stanza 2
“A little group of wise hearts is better than a wilderness full of fools.”
The Crown of Wild Olive, lecture III: War, section 114 (1866).
“Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.”
Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt stulti eruditis videntur.
Book X, Chapter VII, 21
See also: An X among Ys, a Y among Xs
De Institutione Oratoria (c. 95 AD)
Life of Marcus Cato
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Better Way.
Song lyrics, Both Sides of the Gun (2006)
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Touchstone, Act V, scene i
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Touchstone, Act V, scene i
Misattributed
“Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.”
Plutarch's Life of Cato
Variant: Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.
“Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.”
Satire II, l. 282.
Love of Fame (1725-1728)
“A fool boasts about what little he knows. A wise man keeps quiet about what he knows and is safe.”
Flowers of Wisdom