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Folly: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
The picture placed the busts between Adds to the thought much strength: Wisdom and Wit are little seen, But Folly's at full length.— JANE BRERETON — On Beau Nash's
Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope. For blocks are better cleft with wedges, Than tools of sharp or subtle edges, And dullest nonsense has been found By some to be the most profound.— BUTLER — Pindaric Ode. IV. L. 82.
He made an instrument to know If the moon shine at full or no. * * * * * * And prove that she's not made of green cheese.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II.
C. Canto III. L. 261. To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd. And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III. L. 923.
Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame.— BYRON — Monody on the Death of the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan. L. 68.
Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.— BYRON — English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. L. 6.
Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.— GEO. CHAPMAN — All Fools. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 292.
Fool beckons fool, and dunce awakens dunce.— CHURCHILL — Apology. L. 42.
A fool must now and then be right by chance.— COWPER — Conversation. L. 96.
The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.— COWPER — Conversation. L. 299.
Swear, fool, or starve; for the dilemma's even; A tradesman thou! and hope to go to heaven?— DRYDEN — Persius. Satire V. L. 204.
Like his that lights a candle to the sun.— FLETCHER — Letter to Sir Walter Aston.
He has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.— BENJ. FRANKLIN — The Whistle.
A fool and a wise man are alike both in the starting-place-their birth, and at the post-their death; only they differ in the race of their lives.— FULLER — The Holy and Profane States.
Of Natural Fools. Maxim IV.
By outward show let's not be cheated; An ass should like an ass be treated.— GAY — Fables. The Packhorse and Carrier. Pt. II. L. 99.
A rational reaction against irrational ex- *** cesses and vagaries of skepticism may readily degenerate into the rival folly of credulity.— GLADSTONE — Time and Place of Homer.
Introductory. He is a fool 39 Who only sees the mischiefs that are past. .— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. XVII. L. Bryant's Trans.
A man may be as much a fool from the want of sensibility as the want of sense.— MRS. JAMESON — Studies. Detached
Thoughts. P. 122. He is one of those wise philanthropists who, in a time of famine, would vote for nothing but a supply of toothpicks.— DOUGLAS JERROLD — Douglas Jerrold's
Wit. The right to be a cussed fool Is safe from all devices human, It's common (ez a gin'l rule) To every critter born of woman.— LOWELL — The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. 7. St. 16.
I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe The bosom of a friend will hold a secret Mine own could not contain.— MASSINGER — Unnatural Combat.
и. Act V. Sc. 2. Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. Quoted by CAMDEN as a saying of— DR. METCALF
In a bowl to sea went wise men three, On a brilliant night in June: They carried a net, and their hearts were set On fishing up the moon.— THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK — The Wise
Men of Gotham. Paper Money Lyrics. St. 1. Die and endow a college or a cat.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. To Bathurst. L. 96.
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land.— POPE — Prologue to Satires. L. 5.
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. Pt. III. L. 66.
Just as a blockhead rubs his thoughtless skull, fool. And thanks his stars he was not born a— POPE — Epilogue of Jane Shore. L. 7.
Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease, Whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please.
I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad: and to travel for it too!— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 26.
I hold him but a fool that will endanger His body for a girl that loves him not.— Shakespeare — Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 133,
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he play the fool nowhere but in's own house. may— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 134.
Marry, sir, they praise me and make an of ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass; so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 19.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool Do with so good a woman?— Shakespeare — S. Othello. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 233.
O noble fool! A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act II. Sc. 7. L. 33.
Sir, for a quart d'écu he will sell the feeof his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the entail simple of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the entail from all remainders.— Shakespeare — All's Well That Ends Well. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 311.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise knows himself to be a fool. man knows himself to be a fool.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 34.
The fool hath planted in his memory An army of good words; and I do know A many fools, that stand in better place, Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word Defy the matter.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 71.
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; And to do that well craves a kind of wit.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 67.
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.— Shakespeare — King John. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 11.
To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield.— Shakespeare — Pericles. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 54.
Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. II. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 154.
You may as well Forbid the sea for to obey the moon As or by oath remove or counsel shake The fabric of his folly.— Shakespeare — Winter's Tale. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 426.
'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay; 'Tis by our follies that so long We hold the earth from heaven away.— E. R. SILL — The Fool's Prayer.
He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells, and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.— SYDNEY SMITH — Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. I. P. 259.
For take thy ballaunce if thou be so wise, And weigh the winde that under heaven doth blow; Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise; Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow.— SPENSER — Faerie Queen. Bk. V. Canto II. St. 43.
He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summers.— SWIFT — Gulliver's Travels. Pt. III. Ch. V. Voyage to Laputa.
'Tis my maxim, he's a fool that marries; Nay, her foot speaks. but he's a greater that does not marry a fool.— WYCHERLY — The Country Wife. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 502.
And hold their farthing candle to the sun.— YOUNG — Satire VII. L. 56.
At thirty man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night I. L. 417.
Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IV.
Last line. We bleed, we tremble; we forget, we smile- The mind turns fool, before the cheek is dry.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night V. L. 511.
What folly can be ranker? Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night V. L. 661.
Si vir es, suspice, etiam si decidunt, magna conantes. If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.— SENECA — De Brevitate. XX.
Vitium fuit, nunc mos est, adsentatio. Flattery was formerly a vice; it has now become the fashion.— SYRUS — Maxims.
Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes. Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies.— TACITUS — Agricola. XLI.
Est proprium stultitiæ aliorum vitia cernere, oblivisci suorum. It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others, and to forget his own.— CICERO — Tusculanarum Disputationum.
III. 30. Stultorum plena sunt omnia. All places are filled with fools.— CICERO — Epistolæ. IX. 22.
Adde cruorem Stultitiæ, atque ignem gladio scrutare. To your folly add bloodshed, and stir the fire with the sword.— HORACE — Satiræ. II. 3. 275.
Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem : Dulce est desipere in loco. Mingle a little folly with your wisdom; a little nonsense now and then is pleasant.— HORACE — Carmina. IV. 12. 27.
Stultorum incurata malus pudor ulcera celat. The shame of fools conceals their open wounds.— HORACE — Epistolæ. I. 16. 24.
Quantum est in rebus inane! How much folly there is in human affairs. S.— PERSIUS — Satiræ. I. 1.
In pertusum ingerimus dicta dolium, operam ludimus. We are pouring our words into a sieve, and lose our labor.— PLAUTUS — Pseudolus. I. 3. 135.
Si stimulos pugnis cædis manibus plus dolet. If you strike the goads with your fists, your hands suffer most.— PLAUTUS — Truculentus. IV. 2. 54.
Stultus est qui fructus magnarum arborum spectat, altitudinem non metitur. He is a fool who looks at the fruit of lofty trees, but does not measure their height.— QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS — De Rebus
Gestis Alexandri Magni. VII. 8. Inter cætera mala hoc quoque habet Stultitia semper incipit vivere. Among other evils folly has also this, that it is always beginning to live.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. 13.
Quid est dementius quam bilem in homines collectam in res effundere. What is more insane than to vent on senseless things the anger that is felt towards men?— SENECA — De Ira. II. 26.
Absentem lædit cum ebrio qui litigat. He hurts the absent who quarrels with a drunken man. C.— SYRUS — Maxims.
Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit. He is foolish to blame the sea, who is shipwrecked twice.— SYRUS — Maxims.
El miedo tiene muchos ojos. Fear has many eyes.— CERVANTES — Don Quixote. III. 6.
Ce livre n'est pas long, on le voit en une heure; La plus courte folie est toujours la meilleure. This book is not long, one may run over it in an hour; the shortest folly is always the best.— LA GIRANDIÈRE — Le Recueil des Voyeux
Epigrammes. Hélas! on voit que de tout temps Les petits ont pâti des sottises des grands. Alas! we see that the small have always suffered for the follies of the great.— LA FONTAINE — Fables. II. 4.
Lesot est comme le peuple, qui se croit riche de peu. The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little. S.— VAUVENARGUES — Reflexions. CCLX.
L'exactitude est le sublime des sots. Exactness is the sublimity of fools. Attributed to FONTENELLE, who disclaimed it. Qui se croit sage, ô ciel! est un grand fou. He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.— VOLTAIRE — Le Droit du Seigneur.
IV. 1. Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit. He who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as he thinks.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 209.
Un fat est celui que les sots croient un homme de mérite. A coxcomb is one whom simpletons believe to be a man of merit.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. XII.
Un sot n'a pas assez d'étoffe pour être bon. A fool has not material enough to be good.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 387.
Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire. A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.— BOILEAU — L'Art Poétique. I. 232.
Da macht wieder jemand einmal einen dummen Streich. Somebody is again doing a stupid thing.— GOETHE — Clavigo. Act III.
Noth und Jammer sind die Gaben So die Thorheit ernten kann. Want and sorrow are the gifts that folly may earn.— SCHUBART — Der Bettler.
Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib, und Gesang, Der bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang. He who loves not wine, woman, and song, Remains a fool his whole life long. Attributed to LUTHER, probably a saying of J. H. Voss. Chi conta i colpi e la dovuta offesa, Mentr' arde la tenzon, misura e pesa? A fool is he that comes to preach or prate, When men with swords their right and wrong debate.— TASSO — Gerusalemme. V. 57.