Best fool & wit Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Fool, 'tis in vain from wit to wit to roam: Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.”

Knows Home Fool Charity Wit Vain Charity Begins At Home

Book:The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life

Source: The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life

“A fool may scrawl on a slate and if no one has the wit to wipe it clean for a thousand years, the scrawl becomes the wisdom of ages.”

Ifs Years May Age Fool Thousand Clean Wit Thousand Years Wipe Slate

Book:King of Thorns

Source: King of Thorns

“Many, affecting wit beyond their power, Have got to be a dear fool for an hour.”

Hours Fool Dear Wit

Book:The poetical works of George Herbert

Source: The poetical works of George Herbert

“Some have at first for wits, then poets passed, Turned critics next, and proved plain fools at last.”

Firsts Lasts Next Poet Fool Critics Wit

Author:Alexander Pope

“Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.”

Sometimes Fool Wit Discretion

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Passion very often makes the wisest men fools, and very often too inspires the greatest fools with wit.”

Men Passion Inspire Fool Wit Wisest Wisest Man

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“A whetstone is no carving instrument, And yet it maketh sharp the carving tool; And if you see my efforts wrongly spent, Eschew that course and learn out of my school; For thus the wise may profit by the fool, And edge his wit, and grow more keen and wary, For wisdom shines opposed to its contrary.”

Ifs May Wisdom School Courses Grows Effort Wise Fool Tools Instruments Shining Edges Profit Contrary Wit Carving

Book:Troilus and Cressida

Source: Troilus and Cressida

“Deprived of the company of fools, a great wit does not seem half so clever.”

Doe Seems Half Company Fool Wit Clever Deprived Cleverness

Author:Francois Alexandre Frederic, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

“Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.”

Knows May Persons Art Silence Quality Opinion Fool Conversation Gains Credit Tongue Wit Silence Is Great Art Eloquence Art Of Conversation

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“The best thing next to wit is a consciousness that it is not in us; without wit, a man might then know how to behave himself, so as not to appear to be a fool or a coxcomb.”

Knows Men Might Next Consciousness Know How Fool Wit Best Things Behave

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“Whom drink made wits, though nature made them fools.”

Made Fool Drink Wit

Book:The poetical works of Charles Churchill, with notes by W. Tooke. with a memoir by J.L. Hannay

Source: The poetical works of Charles Churchill, with notes by W. Tooke. with a memoir by J.L. Hannay

“No man is so much a fool as not to have wit enough sometimes to be a knave; nor any so cunning a knave as not to have the weakness sometimes to play the fool.”

Men Sometimes Enough Play Fool Weakness Wit Cunning Knaves

Author:Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet

“A fool who has a flash of wit creates astonishment and scandal, like hack-horses setting out to gallop.”

Fool Horse Wit Setting Settings Flash Scandal Hacks Astonishment

Author:Nicolas Chamfort

“I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of fools.”

Politics Fool Intelligence Wit Stirring Factions

Book:The Complete Works of Shakspeare, Revised from the Best Authorities : with a Memoir, and Essay on His Genius

Source: The Complete Works of Shakspeare, Revised from the Best Authorities : with a Memoir, and Essay on His Genius

“To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task.”

World Hard Eye Young Fool Tasks Fellows Wit

Author:William Congreve

“I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit.”

Knows Enough Helping Heaven Poor Fool Wit Help Me

Book:Love for Love: A Comedy

Source: Love for Love: A Comedy

“It may be remarked in general, that the laugh of men of wit is for the most part but a feint, constrained kind of half-laugh, as such persons are never without some diffidence about them; but that of fools is the most honest, natural, open laugh in the world.”

Men World Kind May Persons Natural Half Laughing Honest Fool Laughter Wit Diffidence

Book:The Guardian, with Notes, and General Indexes: Complete in One Volume

Source: The Guardian, with Notes, and General Indexes: Complete in One Volume

“There is small disproportion betwixt a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not and him that useth it not when it should avail him.”

Should Wisdom Fool Wit Foolishness

Author:Elizabeth I

“How every fool can play upon the word!”

Play Fool Wit

Author:William Shakespeare

“It is unpardonable conceit not to laugh at your own jokes. Joking is undignified; that is why it is so good for one's soul. Do not fancy you can be a detached wit and avoid being a buffoon; you cannot. If you are the Court Jester you must be the Court Fool.”

Ifs Soul Laughing Fool Jokes Court Wit Fancy Conceit Detached Jester Buffoons Court Jester

Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton

“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.”

Fool Witty Foolish Wit Cute Foolishness Fooled Fools And Foolishness Fools And Wise Fools Day Wittiest Funny April Fools Playing The Fool Very Witty

Author:William Shakespeare

“Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?" Malvolio: "Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused. I am as well in my wits, fool, as thou art." Feste: "But as well? Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in you wits than a fool.”

Ifs Men Wells Art Five Fool Mad Wit Alas

Book:Twelfth Night Or What You Will

Source: Twelfth Night Or What You Will

“Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the very day that young Hamlet was born, he that is mad and sent into England." "Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?" "Why, because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or, if he do not, it's no great matter there." "Why?" "'Twill not be seen in him there. There the men are as mad as he.”

Ifs Men Matter Young Born Fool England Mad Wit

Book:Cassell's illustrated Shakespeare. The plays of Shakespeare, ed. and annotated by C. and M.C. Clarke, illustr. by H.C. Selous

Source: Cassell's illustrated Shakespeare. The plays of Shakespeare, ed. and annotated by C. and M.C. Clarke, illustr. by H.C. Selous

“This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; And to do that well craves a kind of wit: He must observe their mood on whom he jests, The quality of persons, and the time, And, like the haggard, check at every feather That comes before his eye. This is a practise As full of labour as a wise man's art For folly that he wisely shows is fit; But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit.”

Men Wells Kind Persons Art Enough Play Shows Eye Fall Quality Wise Fool Fit Fellows Wit Mood Checks His Eyes Folly Labour Feathers Crave Practise Viola Haggard

Book:Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will

Source: Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will

Fool Quotes

Related topics

Fool Quotes