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Folly Quotes

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Folly Quotes

“Of this voyage, I observe, that it has miraculously been shown, as may be understood by this writing, by the many signal miracles that He has shown on the voyage, and for me, who for so great a time was in the court of Your Highnesses with the opposition and against the opinion of so many high personages of your household, who were all against me, alleging this undertaking to be folly, which I hope in Our Lord will be to the greater glory of Christianity, which to some slight extent already has happened.”

WritingMayTimeUnderstandingChristianityLordOpinionGreaterHappenedGloryUnderstoodMiracleCourtFollyOppositionHouseholdSignalsOur LordVoyagesUndertakingsAdmiralHighness
Author:Christopher Columbus
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“Brutes find out where their talents lie; A bear will not attempt to fly, A foundered horse will oft debate Before he tries a five barred gate. A dog by instinct turns aside Who sees the ditch too deep and wide, But man we find the only creature Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when she loudly cries-Forbear! With obstinacy fixes there; And where the genius least inclines, Absurdly bends his whole designs.”

MenTryingWholeLyingTurnsFiveTalentDogCryDesignBearsGeniusCreaturesHorseInstinctWideDebateFollyGatesCombatBrutesInclineObstinacyToo Deep
Author:Jonathan Swift
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“A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics'. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer.”

LongRealFactsAgePoliticalLyingSufferingTurnsFallLanguageEnemyIssuesClearMassHatredAimDetailsSnowAtmosphereFollyLatinGapsExhaustedInkCoveringOutlinesSchizophreniaEvasionIdiomInsincerityPolitical IssuesLong WordsPolitical LanguageBad LanguageCuttlefish
Book:Orwell and politics: Animal farm in the context of essays, reviews and letters selected from the complete works of George Orwell
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“Ardent, intelligent, sweet, sensitive, cultivated, erudite. These are the adjectives of praise in an androgynous world. Those who consider them epithets of shame or folly ought not to be trusted with leadership, for they will be men hot for power and revenge, certain of right and wrong.”

MenWorldCertainWomenLeadershipSweetOughtIntelligentPraiseHotShameRevengeSensitiveFollyTrustedBe A ManAdjectivesArdentEruditeEpithetAndrogynous
Book:Toward a recognition of androgyny
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“Arthur Scargill’s leadership of the miners’ strike has been a disgrace. The price to be paid for his folly will be immense. He will have destroyed the NUM as an effective fighting force within British trade unionism for the next 20 years. If kamikaze pilots were to form their own union, Arthur would be an ideal choice for leader.”

IfsYearsHas BeensWould BeFormChoicesFightingNextForceLeaderIdealsPaidTradeUnionsBritishStrikesDestroyedFollyPilotsImmenseDisgraceArthurMinersUnionism
Author:Jimmy Reid
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“Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly.”

IfsGovernmentMightThreeFriendshipPayFourPrideFriendsWise WordsTaxesHeavyNeighborComplainingFollyThree TimesIdlenessPoor RichardDischargeTax Day
Author:Benjamin Franklin
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“Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are: 1) tyranny or oppression, of which history provides so many well-known examples that they do not need citing; 2) excessive ambition, such as Athens' attempted conquest of Sicily in the Peloponnesian War, Philip II's of England via the Armada, Germany's twice-attempted rule of Europe by a self-conceived master race, Japan's bid for an empire of Asia; 3) incompetence or decadence, as in the case of the late Roman empire, the last Romanovs and the last imperial dynasty of China; and finally 4) folly or perversity.”

NeedsWellsKindWarSelfLastsRaceKnownCasesFourExampleMastersAmbitionLateEuropeEnglandChinaTyrannyOppressionCombinationGermanyFollyEmpiresJapanWell KnownAsiaConquestIncompetenceRoman EmpireDecadencePhilipAthensDynastyCitingPerversity
Book:The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
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“For the rest of my life there are two days that will never again trouble me. The first day is yesterday with all its blunders and tears, follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed away, beyond my control forever. The other day is tomorrow with all its pitfalls and threats, its dangers and mystery. Until the sun rises again I have no stake in tomorrow, for it is still unborn.”

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Author:Og Mandino
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“It would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant.”

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Book:Calvin Coolidge, His Ideals of Citizenship as Revealed Through His Speeches and Writings
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“Hope's Folly is a rapid-fire romp through futuristic political intrigue and high-risk passion The tug of war between decorum and passion keeps the romantic intrigue smoldering. With Hope's Folly, Linnea Sinclair builds on a secure reputation as a leading fashioner of science fiction romance. She straddles and blends these genres with a unique bravura and wit.”

WarRomancePoliticalPassionFictionFireRiskUniqueScience FictionWitReputationSecureGenreFollyIntrigueRapidsFuturisticDecorumHigh RiskTug Of War
Author:Philip K. Jason
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“The greatest wisdom is to make the enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest folly: for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.”

WellsPlayMomentsDreamHandsRealityMightCoursesNextEffortObjectsSeriousSupremeEnjoymentFollyBeing MeGreatest Wisdom
Book:Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer
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“If the lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled folly-nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.”

IfsMenNeedsMayHandsMightWould BeCarePainCertainSuccessfulTroubleAmountAdversityMadEvery ManShipsAll TimeArroganceFollyHardshipUnstableRelievedSwollenBallast
Book:Studies in Pessimism
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“The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author; and to her treatment of the subject I will only add, in justice to men, that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in woman than ignorance”

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Book:Northanger abbey
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“When a man has been guilty of any vice or folly, the best atonement he can make for it is to warn others not to fall into the like.”

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Book:Works, including the whole contents of Bp. Hurd's edition: withletters and other pieces not found in any previous collection; and Macaulay's essay on his life and works
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“Knowledge of those unalterable Relations which Providence has ordained that every thing should bear to every other...To these we should conform in good Earnest; and not think to force Nature, and the whole Order of her System, by a Compliance with our Pride, and Folly, to conform to our artificial Regulations.”

ThinkingShouldWholeOrderForcePrideBearsRelationConservativeFollyArtificialRegulationProvidenceConformEarnestCompliance
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)
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