“If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.”

1 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)
First Epistle to the Corinthians

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." by Paul of Tarsus?
Paul of Tarsus photo
Paul of Tarsus 65
Early Christian apostle and missionary 5–67

Related quotes

Pythagoras photo

“By Silence, the discretion of a man is known: and a fool, keeping Silence, seemeth to be wise.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

The Sayings of the Wise (1555)

James I of England photo
William Shakespeare photo

“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)

Anatole France photo

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

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Touchstone, Act V, scene i
Misattributed

Quintilian photo

“Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.”
Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt stulti eruditis videntur.

Quintilian (35–96) ancient Roman rhetor

Book X, Chapter VII, 21
See also: An X among Ys, a Y among Xs
De Institutione Oratoria (c. 95 AD)

Joseph Heller photo
William Blake photo

“If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 18
Source: The Complete Poetry and Prose

Confucius photo

“He Who Knows And Knows That He Knows Is A Wise Man - Follow Him;
He Who Knows Not And Knows Not That He Knows Not Is A Fool - Shun Him”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: The Analects

Herman Melville photo

“And, frankly, for the sake of the argument, let us call him a fool; — then had I rather be a fool than a wise man. —I love all men who dive.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Letter to Evert Augustus Duyckinck (3 March 1849); published in The Letters of Herman Melville (1960) edited by Merrell R. Davis and William H. Gilman, p. 78; a portion of this is sometimes modernized in two ways:
Context: I do not oscillate in Emerson's rainbow, but prefer rather to hang myself in mine own halter than swing in any other man's swing. Yet I think Emerson is more than a brilliant fellow. Be his stuff begged, borrowed, or stolen, or of his own domestic manufacture he is an uncommon man. Swear he is a humbug — then is he no common humbug. Lay it down that had not Sir Thomas Browne lived, Emerson would not have mystified — I will answer, that had not Old Zack's father begot him, old Zack would never have been the hero of Palo Alto. The truth is that we are all sons, grandsons, or nephews or great-nephews of those who go before us. No one is his own sire. — I was very agreeably disappointed in Mr Emerson. I had heard of him as full of transcendentalisms, myths & oracular gibberish; I had only glanced at a book of his once in Putnam's store — that was all I knew of him, till I heard him lecture. — To my surprise, I found him quite intelligible, tho' to say truth, they told me that that night he was unusually plain. — Now, there is a something about every man elevated above mediocrity, which is, for the most part, instinctuly perceptible. This I see in Mr Emerson. And, frankly, for the sake of the argument, let us call him a fool; — then had I rather be a fool than a wise man. —I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or more; & if he don't attain the bottom, why, all the lead in Galena can't fashion the plumet that will. I'm not talking of Mr Emerson now — but of the whole corps of thought-divers, that have been diving & coming up again with bloodshot eyes since the world began.
I could readily see in Emerson, notwithstanding his merit, a gaping flaw. It was, the insinuation, that had he lived in those days when the world was made, he might have offered some valuable suggestions. These men are all cracked right across the brow. And never will the pullers-down be able to cope with the builders-up. And this pulling down is easy enough — a keg of powder blew up Block's Monument — but the man who applied the match, could not, alone, build such a pile to save his soul from the shark-maw of the Devil. But enough of this Plato who talks thro' his nose.

Ben Harper photo

“Fools will be fools,
And wise will be wise.
But I will look this world
Straight in the eyes.What good is a man
Who won't take a stand?
What good is a cynic
With no better plan?”

Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician

Better Way.
Song lyrics, Both Sides of the Gun (2006)

Related topics