Quotes about fools

„Circus, n. A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.“

—  Ambrose Bierce, book The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

„No one has the right to make a boy learn Latin, because learning is a matter for individual choice; but if in a Latin class, a boy fools all the time, the class should throw him out, because he interferes with the freedom of others.“

—  A.S. Neill, book Summerhill

Source: Summerhill (1960), p. 356

„Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.“

—  Bob Marley Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician 1945 - 1981

„Look down at me and you see a fool; look up at me and you see a god; look straight at me and you see yourself.“

—  Charles Manson American criminal and musician 1934 - 2017

As quoted in 101 People You Won't Meet in Heaven: The Twisted Achievements of the Most Brutal and Sadistic Individuals the World Has Ever Known (2007) by Michael Powell, p. 148

„4537. The Fool is busy in everyone's Business but his own.“

—  Thomas Fuller (writer) British physician, preacher, and intellectual 1654 - 1734

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

„A wise man begins in the end, a fool ends in the beginning.“

— Unknown author

„Satan fools and feigns, blows and bluffs, and we so often take his threats to heart and forget the "exceeding greatness of God's power to us.“

—  Leonard Ravenhill British writer 1907 - 1994

Source: Why Revival Tarries

„A fool is someone whose pencil wears out before its eraser does.“

—  Marilyn vos Savant US American magazine columnist, author and lecturer 1946

As quoted in The Truth in Words: Inspiring Quotes for the Reflective Mind (2002) by Paras, p. 92

„A man who trusts everyone is a fool, and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools, if we live long enough.“

—  Robert Jordan, Winter's Heart

Lews Therin Telamon
(9 November 2000)
Source: Winter's Heart

„We are all fools in love“

—  Jane Austen, book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

„It takes one woman twenty years to make a man of her son—and another woman twenty minutes to make a fool of him.“

—  Helen Rowland American journalist 1875 - 1950

Overture: Prelude http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30630/30630-h/30630-h.htm#Page_20
A Guide to Men (1922)

„When the war started in Abyssinia all Negro nationalists looked with hope to Haile Selassie. They spoke for him, they prayed for him, they sung for him, they did everything to hold up his hands, as Aaron did for Moses; but whilst the Negro peoples of the world were praying for the success of Abyssinia this little Emperor was undermining the fabric of his own kingdom by playing the fool with white men, having them advising him[, ] having them telling him what to do, how to surrender, how to call off the successful thrusts of his [Race] against the Italian invaders. Yes, they were telling him how to prepare his flight, and like an imbecilic child he followed every advice and then ultimately ran away from his country to England, leaving his people to be massacred by the Italians, and leaving the serious white world to laugh at every Negro and repeat the charge and snare - "he is incompetent," "we told you so." Indeed Haile Selassie has proved the incompetence of the Negro for political authority, but thank God there are Negroes who realise that Haile Selassie did not represent the truest qualities of the Negro race. How could he, when he wanted to play white? How could he, when he surrounded himself with white influence? How could he, when in a modern world, and in a progressive civilization, he preferred a slave State of black men than a free democratic country where the black citizens could rise to the same opportunities as white citizens in their democracies?“

—  Marcus Garvey Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, orator, and entrepreneur 1887 - 1940

The Failure of Haile Selassie as Emperor in The Blackman, April, 1937.

„The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.“

—  Bertrand Russell logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist 1872 - 1970

Variant: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

„I can better understand the inert blindness & defiant ignorance of the reactionaries from having been one of them. I know how smugly ignorant I was—wrapped up in the arts, the natural (not social) sciences, the externals of history & antiquarianism, the abstract academic phases of philosophy, & so on—all the one-sided standard lore to which, according to the traditions of the dying order, a liberal education was limited. God! the things that were left out—the inside facts of history, the rational interpretation of periodic social crises, the foundations of economics & sociology, the actual state of the world today … & above all, the habit of applying disinterested reason to problems hitherto approached only with traditional genuflections, flag-waving, & callous shoulder-shrugs! All this comes up with humiliating force through an incident of a few days ago—when young Conover, having established contact with Henneberger, the ex-owner of WT, obtained from the latter a long epistle which I wrote Edwin Baird on Feby. 3, 1924, in response to a request for biographical & personal data. Little Willis asked permission to publish the text in his combined SFC-Fantasy, & I began looking the thing over to see what it was like—for I had not the least recollection of ever having penned it. Well …. I managed to get through, after about 10 closely typed pages of egotistical reminiscences & showing-off & expressions of opinion about mankind & the universe. I did not faint—but I looked around for a 1924 photograph of myself to burn, spit on, or stick pins in! Holy Hades—was I that much of a dub at 33 … only 13 years ago? There was no getting out of it—I really had thrown all that haughty, complacent, snobbish, self-centred, intolerant bull, & at a mature age when anybody but a perfect damned fool would have known better! That earlier illness had kept me in seclusion, limited my knowledge of the world, & given me something of the fatuous effusiveness of a belated adolescent when I finally was able to get around more in 1920, is hardly much of an excuse. Well—there was nothing to be done … except to rush a note back to Conover & tell him I'd dismember him & run the fragments through a sausage-grinder if he ever thought of printing such a thing! The only consolation lay in the reflection that I had matured a bit since '24. It's hard to have done all one's growing up since 33—but that's a damn sight better than not growing up at all.“

—  H.P. Lovecraft American author 1890 - 1937

Letter to Catherine L. Moore (7 February 1937), in Selected Letters V, 1934-1937 edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, pp. 407-408
Non-Fiction, Letters

„Whoever says that he "belongs to his time" is only saying that he agrees with the largest number of fools at that moment.“

—  Nicolás Gómez Dávila Colombian writer and philosopher 1913 - 1994

Sucesivos Escolios a un Texto Implícito (1992)

„There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.“

—  Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855

„A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.“

—  William Blake English Romantic poet and artist 1757 - 1827

„The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.“

—  William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Touchstone, Act V, scene i
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)

„He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.“

—  Groucho Marx American comedian 1890 - 1977