“3400. Men never think their Fortune too great, nor their Wit too little.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
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Thomas Fuller (writer) 420
British physician, preacher, and intellectual 1654–1734Related quotes
On se doit assemer en robes et en armes en tel manière que li preudome de cest siècle ne dient que on en face trop, ne les joenes gens de cest siècle ne dient que on en face peu.
Page 171. http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/chroniq/joinv/JV006.htm
Jean de Joinville Livre des saintes paroles et des bons faiz nostre roy saint Looys
“We think too much and feel too little.”
The Rights of the Colonists (1772)
Non combattete mai con la religione, né con le cose che pare che dependono da Dio; perché questo obietto ha troppa forza nella mente degli sciocchi.
Number 253.
Counsels and Reflections (1857)
As quoted in NEA Journal : The Journal of the National Education Association Vol. 41 (1952) p. 300
Context: One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking. I am not advocating in the slightest that we become mutes with our voices stilled because of fear of criticism of what we might say. That is moral cowardice. And moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. The importance of individual thinking to the preservation of our democracy and our freedom cannot be overemphasized. The broader sense of the concept of your role in the defense of democracy is that of the citizen doing his most for the preservation of democracy and peace by independent thinking, making that thinking articulate by translating it into action at the ballot boxes, in the forums, and in everyday life, and being constructive and positive in that thinking and articulation. The most precious thing that democracy gives to us is freedom. You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.
“I always thought there was very little wit wanted to make a fortune in the City.”
Source: The Prime Minister (1876), Ch. 10
“But far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little, and who talk too much.”
Pt. I, lines 532–533. Compare Matthew Prior, Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana, "They always talk who never think".
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
