“Foolish names and foolish faces often appear in public places.”
Source: American Wife
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Curtis Sittenfeld 23
Novelist, short story writer 1975Related quotes
Le public est gouverné comme il raisonne. Son droit est de dire des sottises, comme celui des ministres est d'en faire.
Maximes et Pensées, #503
“Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.”
Virgil, Georgics, book ii, line 72; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Ravish'd with the whistling of a name", Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, epistle iv, line 281.
“and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.”
Source: Dubliners
“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)
“He lives to build, not boast, a generous race;
No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.”
The Bastard (1728), line 7, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“There's not a thing on earth that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.”
Did e'er this Saucy World.
Other
38
Essays in Idleness (1967 Columbia University Press, Trns: Donald Keene)
Context: One would like to leave behind a glorious reputation for surpassing wisdom and character, but careful reflection will show that what we mean by love of a glorious reputation is delight in the approbation of others. Neither those who praise nor those who abuse last for long, and the people who have heard their reports are like likely to depart the world as quickly. Before whom then should we feel ashamed? By whom should we wish to be appreciated? Fame, moreover inspires backbiting. It does no good whatsoever to have one's name survive. A craving after fame is next foolish.