Quotes about fool
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“He said there are thousands of Shadowhunters, but great love comes once in a lifetime if one is lucky, and one would be a fool to let it go.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Love, Fools

“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

Fools

“That's what I do. Watch movies and read. Sometimes I even pretend to write, but I'm not fooling anyone. Oh, and I go to the mailbox.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

Fools, Reading

“Those who say they would rather fight to the death than be raped are fools. I would rather be raped a thousand times. You do what you have to.”

Alice Sebold (1963) American writer

Death, Fools, Time, Fight

“He wished he could reassure his mother: a man wants many things in life, but when one of them is also the right thing, he would be a fool not to choose it.”

Jess Walter book Beautiful Ruins

Source: Beautiful Ruins

Life, Fools

“The people who lie the most are nearly always the clumsiest at it, and they're easier to fool with lies than most people, too. You'd think they'd be on the look-out for lies, but they seem to be the very ones that will believe almost anything at all.”

Dashiell Hammett book The Thin Man

Source: The Thin Man

People, Lie, Fools, Thinking

“Woman, you are a thousand kinds of fool.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Fools

“Though most expect young men to be fools, I've noticed that just a little bit of age can make a man far more foolish than he was as a child.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Men, Age, Fools

“I am blind and limited. I would be a fool think myself wise. And so, not knowing what the universe means, I can only try to be responsible with the knowledge, the strength, and the time given to me. I must be true to my heart.”

Jim Butcher book Death Masks

Source: Death Masks

Fools, Knowledge, Thinking, Universe

“You can fool some of the people some of the time -- and that's enough to make a decent living.”

W.C. Fields (1880–1946) actor

People, Fools, Time

“I suppose […] that the most convincing way to fool an enemy would be to fool a friend.”

Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer

Source: Heir to the Shadows

Fools, Way

“Listen, son—most women are damn fools and children. But they’ve got more range than we’ve got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better—and the vile ones are viler.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Puppet Masters

Source: The Puppet Masters (1951), Chapter 11 (p. 65)

Women, Children, Fools

“Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Men, Fools

“There had never been a shortage of fools in the world”

Stephen King book The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Source: The Drawing of the Three

World, Fools

“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”

Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist

Vol. 3, Ch. IX, State-Tamperings with Money and Banks
Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (1891)

Men, World, Fools

“and our few good times will be rare because we have the critical sense
and are not easy to fool with laughter”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Fools, Sense, Laughter, Time

“They say that loving eyes can never see, but that's a fool's axiom. Sometimes, they see too much”

Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars

Source: Full Dark, No Stars

Love, Fools

“What sense did the world make? Where was God, the Bloody Fool? Did He have no notion of fair and unfair? Couldn't He read a simple balance sheet? He would have been sacked long ago if He were managing a corporation, the things he allowed to happen…”

Rohinton Mistry A Fine Balance

Source: A Fine Balance

God, World, Fools, Sense

“A stone is heavy and the sand is weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

Fools

“I was a fool! Loving someone who doesn't love you is hell! Don't ever let anyone convince you that you can be happy with someone who doesn't love you.”

Judith McNaught (1944) American writer

Source: Once and Always

Love, Happiness, Fools, Hell

“Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Fools, Anger

“I wasn’t gifted. Mom was wrong. I was just smart and I worked hard. I had fooled myself into thinking that was something important to the rest of the world. Other people were complicit in this ruse. Nobody had told me I was common.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

People, World, Fools, Moms

“So, that’s what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. That’s what they needed. People were fools. It was going to be easy for me.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

People, Beauty, Fools

“Hope is a dangerous thing, Raisa thought. Once kindled, it's hard to put out. It makes wise people into fools.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Crimson Crown

People, Hope, Fools

“The garden where you sit
Has never a need of flowers,
For you are the blossoms
And only a fool or the blind
Would fail to know it”

Louis De Bernières (1954) English novelist

Source: Corelli's Mandolin

Fools, Flowers

“I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

Fools, Thinking

“I had them all fooled into believing I was normal and well-adjusted, a rock of sensibility who could always be counted on to have a positive attitude.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: Sweethearts

Fools

“I fool you. I fool everyone.”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

Fools

“We fool ourselves so much we could do it for a living.”

Stephen King book Duma Key

Source: Duma Key

Fools

“Then you're a bigger fool than I thought. Since when has any man ever been worthy of the woman he loved? It's only by God's grace that they love us in spite of ourselves.”

Teresa Medeiros (1962) American writer

Source: The Bride and the Beast

Love, God, Fools

“There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, " This is new, and therefore better.”

John Brunner The Shockwave Rider

Source: The Shockwave Rider

Fools

“It's better to be silent than to be a fool.”

Harper Lee (1926–2016) American author

Fools, Wise, Funny, Cute

“I think the only answer is to live life to the fullest while you can and collect memories like fools collect money. Because in the end, that's all you have - happy memories.”

Sarah Strohmeyer (1950) American writer

Source: Kindred Spirits

Life, Money, Happiness, Fools

“Many a good argument is ruined by some fool who knows what he is talking about.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Fools

“I had fooled myself into thinking that I was something important to the rest of the world.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

World, Fools, Thinking

“I think hope is the worst thing in the world. I really do. It makes a fool of you while it lasts. And then when it's gone, it's like there's nothing left of you at all… except what you can't be rid of.”

Marilynne Robinson Home

Source: Home

World, Hope, Fools, Thinking

“You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.”

Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) Canadian eductor

Fools, Feeling, For Friend

“Of all the causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring judgement, and misguide the mind,
What the weak head with strongest bias rules,
Is PRIDE, the never-failing vice of fools.”

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) eighteenth century English poet

Fools

“How do you politely explain to someone that you had believed for years he was a moron as well as a Fool?
Fitz in Assassin's Apprentice”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Source: Assassin's Apprentice

Fools

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot, missionary to Auca indians in Ecuador”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: The Journals of Jim Elliot

Fools

“Its funny how you can let yourself forget for seconds, how even in the heat of the horrible, you can have moments when you fool yourself into thinking it might all be okay”

Harlan Coben book Shelter

Source: Shelter

Fools, Thinking, Forgetting

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people, some of the time, but you can fool yourself anytime you need to badly enough.”

Hilari Bell book Navohar

Source: Navohar

People, Fools, Time

“I find it ridiculous to assign a gender to an inanimate object incapable of disrobing and making an occasional fool of itself.”

David Sedaris book Me Talk Pretty One Day

Source: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Fools

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”

Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916) Yiddish author and playwright

Life, Dreams, Fools, Game

“Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!"
That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backwards and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Fools, Time, Parting

“A woman who acts like a fool is a fool.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Fools

“You can’t fool people into loving you.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

Love, People, Fools

“If being smart is what you say it is, I will remain a fool my entire life.”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Life, Fools

“The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule.”

Robert Jordan Lord of Chaos

Chant from a children’s game heard in Great Arvalon, the Fourth Age
(15 October 1994)
Source: Lord of Chaos

Fools, Singing, Sun, Night

“He could cheat on me and he would never tell me, and he would think less and less of me for not figuring it out. He would see me across the breakfast table, innocently slurping cereal, and know that I am a fool, and how can anyone respect a fool?”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Fools, Thinking, Cheating

“We are all the fools of time and terror: Days
Steal on us and steal from us; yet we live,
Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Life, Fools, Time

“Fool that I am," said he,"that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself".”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: What a fool I was, not to tear my heart out on the day when I resolved to avenge myself!
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Fools, Revenge, Tear, Heart

“Genius or fool, you don't live in the world alone. You can hide underground or you can build a wall around yourself, but somebody's going to come along and screw up the works.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985)

World, Fools

“I am only responsible for my own heart, you offered yours up for the smashing my darling. Only a fool would give out such a vital organ”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Fools, Heart

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”

Euripidés The Bacchae

Bacchæ l. 480 <br class="br">Variant translation: To the fool, he who speaks wisdom will sound foolish. <br class="br">Variant translation: He were a fool, methinks, who would utter wisdom to a fool. (translated by Edward Philip Coleridge) <br class="br">Variant translation: Wise words being brought to blinded eyes will seem as things of nought. ( translated by Gilbert Murray http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8418/8418-h/8418-h.htm) <br class="br">Source: The Bacchae

Fools, Sense

“I’ll distract them,” Carter said. “You search. The Trophy room is through there.”
“Carter!”
But the fool ran off to protect me. I hate when he does that.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Hate, Fools, Search

“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

Fools

“Once, maybe I would have thought you a fool, but… well, that's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion? You have to shut out that voice that whispers about betrayal, and just hope that your friends aren't going to hurt you.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Hope, Fools, Betrayal, Hurt

“We're taught at such an early age to be against the communists, yet most of us don't have the faintest idea what communism is. Only a fool let's somebody tell them who the enemy is.”

Assata Shakur (1947) American activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army

Source: Assata: In Her Own Words, p. 152
Source: Assata: An Autobiography

Age, Fools, Communication, Idea

“I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools. I like a twist of meaning. I endure.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Variant: I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.
Source: We Were Liars

Fools, Suffering

“Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results.”

Brandon Sanderson book Words of Radiance

Source: Words of Radiance

Fools, Personality

“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

Fools

“You have the army of mediocrities followed by the multitude of fools. As the mediocrities and the fools always form the immense majority, it is impossible for them to elect an intelligent government.”

Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer

"Sundays of a Bourgeois"
Source: Les dimanches d'un bourgeois de Paris, et autres aventures parisiennes

Fools, Intelligence

“Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Love, Fools, Thinking

“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"

"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War, Fools, Thinking

“In wars, boy, fools kill other fools for foolish causes.”

Robert Jordan book The Eye of the World

Thom Merrilin
(15 January 1990)
Source: To the Blight

War, Fools, Boy

“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

#32
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)

Fools, Art, Science

“In my fool hardy youth, when my friends were dreaming of heroic deeds in the realms of engineering and law, finance and national politics, I dreamt of becoming a librarian.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: The Library at Night

Youth, Law, Dreams, Fools

“What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Fools

“Only a fool took a remote from a god.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Night Embrace

Source: Night Embrace

God, Fools

“When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.”

Frank Herbert book The Godmakers

Source: The Godmakers (1972)

Wisdom, Fools, Understanding, Question

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on both of us.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Fools, Time

“You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool your own mind.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

Source: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Fools

“It is not much good being wise among fools and sane among lunatics.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Fools

“Gonna change my way of thinking, make my self a different set of rules. Gonna put my good foot forward and stop being influenced by fools.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Fools, Way, Thinking, Change

“Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There's only one reality.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: 1Q84 BOOK 1

Fools, Reality, Appearance

“It isn't very pretty to have been made a fool of by one's own feelings,' he said. 'To take childish promises and build a--a castle out of them…”

Winston Graham (1908–2003) British writer

Source: Ross Poldark

Fools, Feeling

“You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

"The Owl who was God", The New Yorker (29 April 1939); Fables for Our Time & Famous Poems Illustrated (1940). Parody of "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time

People, Fools, Time

“Only a fool is not afraid.”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

Fools