Foolishness

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

Come hither, my boy, tell me what thou seest there?
A fool tangled in a religious snare.
~ William Blake, in Notebook (c. 1789-93). Lacedemonian Instruction

Folly is an endless maze,
Tangled roots perplex her ways,
How many have fallen there!
~ William Blake, from Songs of Experience (1794). The Voice of the Ancient Bard

Folly is the cloak of knavery.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

He's a blockhead who wants a proof of what he can't perceive
And he's a fool who tries to make such a blockhead believe.
~ William Blake, in The Life of William Blake (1863), Volume II. Poems Hitherto Unpublished. Couplets and Fragments VIII

If a fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

If others had not been foolish, we should be so.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

Listen to the fool's reproach! it is a kingly title!
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

The selfish smiling fool, and the sullen frowning fool, shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

To generalize is to be an idiot. To particularize is the great distinction of merit.
~ William Blake, in The Life of William Blake (1863). Notes on Reynolds' Discourses (written c. 1798-1808; aka Annotations to The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds).

What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.
~ William Blake, in The Letters of William Blake (1956). Letter to the Reverend John Trusler (23 August 1799

Paradise of fools;
Fool's paradise.
~ William Bullein, Dialogue Against the Fever Pestilence (1573).

Madam, I have heard men say that those who would make fools of princes are the fools themselves.
~ William Cecil, Lord Burghley, (c. 1580)

Ah, sweet Repose, too soon expiring!
Ah, foolish Man, new Toils requiring!
~ William Congreve, A Hymn to Harmony (1703). VI.

Ay, sir, I am a Fool, I know it: And yet, Heav'n help me, I'm poor enough to be a Wit.
~ William Congreve, Love for Love (1695). Act I, scene 1

Every man plays the fool once in his life; but to marry is playing the fool all one's life long.
~ William Congreve, The Old Bachelor (1693). Act III, scene iV

O fate of fools! officious in contriving;
In executing, puzzled, lame and lost.
~ William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697). Act IV, scene i

The wise too jealous are, fools too secure.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act III, scene xviii

A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Conversation

He would not, with a peremptory tone,
Assert the nose upon his face his own.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Conversation

'Tis hard if all is false that I advance,
A fool must now and then be right by chance.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Conversation

To follow foolish precedents, and wink
With both our eyes, is easier than to think.
~ William Cowper, Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools (1784).

Hold everybody accountable? Ridiculous!
~ W. Edwards Deming

[T]here is nothing lighter than vain praise.
~ William Drummond (of Hawthornden), in The Poems of William Drummond of Hawthornden (1833). Songs, Sonnets, Sextains, Madrigals, And Epigrams. Sonnet II

He flings it at you like -- like ... Wait, I've got it: like giving caviar to an elephant.
~ William Faulkner, in Story (1933). Artist at Home

Never give a sucker an even break.
~ W.C. Fields (W.C. Fields' catch-phrase), in Poppy (1923 musical comedy).

Never smarten up a chump.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).

Take the statistical view of rascals and fools. There are so many per thousand in the population; you have to meet your share. If you seem to be meeting more than your share, lie down: you may be tired.
~ John William Gardner, No Easy Victories (1968).

Anyone honestly happy with himself is a fool.
~ William H. Gass, in Harper's Magazine (May 1994). The Art of Self: Autobiography in an Age of Narcissism

The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, The Mikado (1885 opera).

[I]t is good for us that we should occasionally relax and play the fool.
~ William Godwin, Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries (1831). Essay II. Of the Distribution of Talents

There is, they say, no fool like an old fool.
~ William Golding, Nobel Lecture (7 December 1983).

A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one -- they shew one another off to the best advantage.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Only a fool believes that he knows it all or is even expected to know it all.
~ William N. "Bill" Hodges, The Next Wave, Want To Lead? This Is What It Takes (1996).

There are two kinds of fools: one says, "This is old, therefore it is good"; the other says, "This is new, therefore it is better."
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge, More Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1931).

There is nothing intrinsically absurd except that which proves contrary to logic and experience.
~ William (W.) Stanley Jevons, The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method (1873). Chapter XXVI. Character of the Experimentalist

I don't care what consequence it brings, I have been a fool for lesser things.
~ Billy Joel

I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.
~ Billy Joel

Although a wise man might urge that one should suffer fools gladly, this should not be construed as license for any fool to demand that one do so.
~ Fredrick William Kantor

For he pretends too much, or is a fool,
Who'd fix those things where fashion is the rule.
~ William King, The Art of Cookery; in imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry (1708).

The atomic bomb is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The bomb will never go off -- and I speak as an expert in explosives.
~ William Leahy, (1945).

It is easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.
~ Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz

Only a fool's content, and in the cold.
~ William Lindsey, from Apples of Istakhar (1895). En Garde, Messieurs

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!
~ Peter McWilliams

Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. This is the first step towards becoming either estimable or agreeable, and until it be taken there is no hope. The sooner the discovery is made the better, as there is more time and power for taking advantage of it.
~ William Lamb (2nd Viscount, Lord Melbourne), in Lord Melbourne's Papers (1889). Chapter III. Married Life and Literature

Nobody ever did anything very foolish except from some strong principle.
~ William Lamb (2nd Viscount, Lord Melbourne), in The Young Melbourne (1939).

[I] may be a fool, but I'm not a damned fool.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Circle, Act II (1921).

It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from Ten Novels and Their Authors (1954).

Life's hell anyway, but if there is any fun to be got out of it, you're only a god-damn fool if you don't get it.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge (1944).

The only activity more foolish than a person pouring forth a stream of "yes-buts" is the person who continues to give good advice in the face of obvious indifference.
~ Peter McWilliams, DO IT! Let's Get Off Our Buts (1994). Part One: Why We're Not Living Our Dreams

A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions.
~ Wilson Mizner

A sucker is born every minute, and two to trick him.
~ Wilson Mizner

The cuckoo who is on to himself is halfway out of the clock.
~ Wilson Mizner

To be a Man's own Fool is bad enough, but the Vain Man is Every Body's.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part II. The Vain Man

His head began to giddy get,
To giddy get began,
And giddier still, and giddier yet,
As round about he ran.
~ William J. Macquorn Rankine, in Songs and Fables (1874). Songs. The Infant Metaphysician

Looking back on my life, I wish I'd stepped forward and made a fool of myself more often when I was younger -- because when you do, you find out you can do it.
~ William Sessions

A fool, A fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
A motley fool. A miserable world!
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene vii

Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene vii

Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Act III, scene i

Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act V, scene iv

If thou remember'st not the slightest folly
That ever love did make thee run into,
Thou hast not lov'd.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene iv

Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come ...
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act I, scene i

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act III, scene ii

Old fools are babes again.
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act I, scene iii

Reason thus with life:
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act III, scene i

So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 57

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act V, scene i

The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act I, scene ii

The portrait of a blinking idiot.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene ix

They fool me to the top of my bent.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene ii

This is the excellent foppery of the world; that when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeits of our own behavior, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and stars; as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and traitors by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence.
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act I, scene ii

'Tis such fools as you that makes the world full of ill-favour'd children.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act III, scene iv

When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act IV, scene vi

Who knows himself a braggart,
Let him fear this, for it will come to pass
that every braggart shall be found an ass.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act IV, scene iii

A fool and his words are soon parted.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. On Reserve

Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence,
And honest meaning gilded want of sense.
~ William Shenstone, Ode, To a lady (1736).

Vox populi, vox humbug.
~ William Tecumseh Sherman

Is Folly then so old? -- Why, let me see,
About what time of life may Folly be
Oh, she was born, by nicest calculation,
One moment after woman's first creation!
~ William Robert (W.R.) Spencer, The Fashionable Friends (1802). Prologue

Then take no care, but only to be jolly,
To be more wretched than we must, is folly.
~ William Strode, in Wit Restored (1658). Answer to "The Lover's Melancholy"

How can you make a fool perceive that he is a fool? Such a personage can no more see his own folly than he can see his ears.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, from Men's Wives (1852). Dennis Haggarty's Wife

If thou hast never been a fool, be sure thou wilt never be a wise man.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, in The Cornhill Magazine (January-June 1860). Chapter I. The Bachelor of Beak Street

Then sing as Martin Luther sang:
"Who loves not wine, woman, and song,
He is a fool his whole life long!"
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip (1862). A Credo. Stanza 1

Anyone who thinks they're important is usually just a pompous moron who can't deal with his or her own pathetic insignificance and the fact that what they do is meaningless and inconsequential ...
~ William Thomas

To gain the reputation of vanity is to become a jest.
~ W. (William) Bernard Ullathorne, The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues (1882).

I try not to kid myself. You know, I don't mind romancing someone else, but to fool yourself is pretty devastating and dangerous.
~ Bill Veeck

Whoever has any relation, friend, or acquaintance, that is troubled with folly of whatever kind, let him bring him hither, and he shall be cured without any fee.
~ William Walsh, Aesculapius; Or, The Hospital of Fools (1714).

I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Principles are dangerous tools for a fool.
~ William Hale White (aka Mark Rutherford), More Pages from a Journal, With Other Papers (1910). Notes

[T]he surface of folly sometimes breaks open to reveal surprising depths.
~ William Willeford, The Fool and His Scepter (1969).

His golf bag does not contain a full set of irons.
~ Robin Williams

Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
Truth in a cage!
Heigh-ho! Truth in a cage.
~ William Carlos Williams, from The Tempers (1913). The Fool's Song

And ever since the Conquest have been fools.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl Of Rochester, Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country (1679)

I might be a different kind of fool, but I ain't gonna be the same fool twice.
~ August Wilson, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984).

I have always found [nonsense] a capital preparative for a dry and close argument.
~ William Wirt, in Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Volume II (1849). Chapter XIII. Letter to Mrs. Laura H. Randall; 19 May 1828

Missed the last train to Clue Junction.
~ Reverend Billy C. Wirtz

[H]e's a fool that marries, but he's a greater that does not marry a fool; what is wit in a wife good for, but to make a man a cuckold?
~ William Wycherley, The Country Wife (1673). Act I, scene i

Mock mockers after that
That would not lift a hand maybe
To help good, wise or great
To bar that foul storm out, for we
Traffic in mockery.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Tower (1928). Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen