“For such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves: For they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance.”
The First Part, Chapter 13, p. 61
Leviathan (1651)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Thomas Hobbes 97
English philosopher, born 1588 1588–1679Related quotes

“5779. Wise Men learn by other Men's Harms; Fools, by their own.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“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.

“Why is it that so many men of small stature have more courage than men of size?”
The Mission Song (2006)

As quoted in a September 1970 Ray Connolly interview http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/journalism_01/journalism_01_item.asp?journalism_01ID=78 for the Evening Standard.