33 Foolish Quotes To Ponder

In the intricate dance of life, wisdom often comes wrapped in wit and humor. It’s through the lens of foolishness that we sometimes uncover the most profound truths. Our selection of 33 foolish quotes aims to provoke thought, spark laughter, and perhaps even inspire a bit of self-reflection. As you delve into these quirky and whimsical musings, remember that every nugget of folly holds a kernel of wisdom, waiting to be discovered. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this whimsical journey through the wittiest observations on human nature.

1. “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.” - George W. Bush

2. “Compromise is a stalling between two fools.” - Stephen Fry

3. “There are more fools in the world than there are people.” - Heinrich Heine

4. “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” - Soren Kierkegaard

5. “Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.” - Benjamin Franklin

6. “The young people think the old people are fools -- but the old people know the young people are fools.” - Agatha Christie

7. “For in Paris, whenever God puts a pretty woman there (the streets), the Devil, in reply, immediately puts a fool to keep her.” - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly

8. “He who hesitates is a damned fool.” - Mae West

9. “I would never say, to justify a lapse in principle, "I am only human"--as though that were some kind of justification for weakness, moral weakness. Flesh and blood is much, much stronger than fools believe.” - Jack Henry Abbott

10. “But heroes, at times, had to be fools.” - Steve Berry

11. “A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

12. “So said Hair-Face, and they killed him, because, they said, he was a wild man and wanted to go back and live in a tree. It was very strange. Whenever a man arose and wanted to go forward all those that stood still said he went backward and should be killed. And the poor people helped stone him, and were fools. We were all fools, except those who were fat and did no work. The fools were called wise, and the wise were stoned. Men who worked did not get enough to eat, and the men who did not work ate too much.” - Jack London

13. “A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear.” - William Shakespeare

14. “We were fools and now we were driving to our deaths in a rental car. Janet Jackson was tinkling from the speakers, asking what we had done for her as of late” - Dave Eggers

15. “optimism, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with disproof - an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.” - Ambrose Bierce

16. “Labeled fools to the world are geniuses to the cosmos.” - Criss Jami

17. “Alvin smiled back, and kissed her. "People talk about fools counting chickens before they hatch. That's nothing. We name them.” - Orson Scott Card

18. “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don't have brains enough to be honest.” - Benjamin Franklin

19. “Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic” - Ludwig Wittgenstein

20. “What have you done when you have bested a fool?” - Charles Portis

21. “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that.” - Benjamin Franklin

22. “For a more than miffed Midnight, fate was for emperors, fools and soppy lovers: - fate was the self-important egotism of those doing well, the sheer unbearable arrogance of the living and loved.” - Tom Conrad

23. “What glitters may not be gold; and even wolves may smile; and fools will be led by promises to their deaths.” - Lauren Oliver

24. “We are all fools blessed with the knowledge that certain events will come to pass no matter what path we take to get there. The wise ones follow their angels while they may.” - Alethea Kontis

25. “Out with it, Dunciad: let the secret pass -That secret to each fool - that he's an ass.The truth once told (and whereby should we lie?),The queen of Midas slept, and so may I.You think this cruel? Take it for a rule,No creature smarts so little as a fool.” - Alexander Pope

26. “We all know we're one day closer to the end when we wake up in the morning. We just kid ourselves that it's not happening.” - Rachel Ward

27. “To expect to be kissed having bad breath is the secret of a fool.” - Dejan Stojanovic

28. “The problem with the wise is they are so filled with doubts and questions, while fools are so certain about things.” - Shannon L. Alder

29. “There are two kinds of Fools. The real Fool is the most sincere of mortals: the Court Fool and his kind—the trifling, jesting buffoon—but simulate the family virtue, and steal the family name, for sordid purposes.” - Albion Winegar Tourgée

30. “New' is a word for fools in towns who think / Style upon style in dress and thought at last / Must get somewhere.” - Robert Frost

31. “Fools talk, cowards silence , wise men listen” - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

32. “Everyone gets scared at times. It's only the fools who won't admit it.” - Jennifer A. Nielsen

33. “If a man says he is Christian, yet he has no problems knocking you up, having premarital sex or living in sin with you, then you have to ask yourself, “What version of Christ does he believe in?” - Shannon L. Alder