“Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.”
“Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor.”
“He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.”
“Men who know themselves are no longer fools. They stand on the threshold of the door of Wisdom.”
“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.”
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”
“There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.”
“The fool thinks himself to be wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. [Measure For Measure]”
“That's the penalty we have to pay for our acts of foolishness -- someone else always suffers for them.”
“While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.”
“When he said we were trying to make a fool of him, I could only murmur that the Creator had beat us to it.”
“The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work supremely well, without attending to appearance.”
“A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes.”
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
“Seek but provision of bread and wine, fools to flatter, and clothing fine; and nothing of God shall ever be thine.”
“The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men.”
“Why fools are endowed by nature with voices so much louder than sensible people possess is a mystery. It is a fact emphasized throughout history.”
“A clever child brought up with a foolish one can itself become foolish. Man is so perfectible and corruptible he can become a fool through good sense.”
“The world is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs of his neighbor.”
“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.”
“It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.”
“Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth's many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more, and float upward in our heedlessness, singing Gratia Dei sum quod sum.”
“In days gone by, we were afraid of dying in dishonor or a state of sin. Nowadays, we are afraid of dying fools. Now the fact is that there is no Extreme Unction to absolve us of foolishness. We endure it here on earth as subjective eternity.”
“He who knows he who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool, shun him; He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child, teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep, wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise, follow him.”
“There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world's ills will be cured.”
“There are four types of men in this world: 1. The man who knows, and knows that he knows; he is wise, so consult him. 2. The man who knows, but doesn't know that he knows; help him not forget what he knows. 3. The man who knows not, and knows that he knows not; teach him. 4. Finally, there is the man who knows not but pretends that he knows; he is a fool, so avoid him.”
“You ask whether I have ever been in love: fool as I am, I am not such a fool as that. But if one is only to talk from first-hand experience, conversation would be a very poor business. But though I have no personal experience of the things they call love, I have what is better -- the experience of Sappho, of Euripides, of Catallus, of Shakespeare, of Spenser, of Austen, of Bronte, of anyone else I have read.”
“The great God endows His children variously. To some he gives intellect -- and they move the earth. To some he allots heart -- and the beating pulse of humanity is theirs. But to some He gives only a soul, without intelligence -- and these, who never grow up, but remain always His children, are God's fools, kindly, elemental, simple, as if from His palette the Artist of all had taken one color instead of many.”
“In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can't long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.”