Can’t see the forest for the trees.
unknown
Don’t cry over spilt milk.
James Howell (1549-1666)
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
Mid 14th century French Proverb
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
unknown
Fools and scissors require good handling.
Japanese (on foolishness)
Fools are like other folks as long as they are silent.
Danish (on foolishness)
Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
If you buy things you don’t need, you will soon be selling things you do need.
Pampango – Filipino (on buying and selling)
If you follow a fool, you are a fool yourself.
Jamaican (on foolishness)
It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf its confessor.
Italian (on common sense)
It is a fool’s sheep that breaks loose twice.
Ashanti (West African) (on foolishness)
It’s better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Bible
Only a fool hates that which he knows nothing about.
unknown
Only the foolish visit the land of the cannibals.
Maori (on foolishness)
Philosophy as well as foppery often changes fashion.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Sing away sorrow, cast away care.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
The complete fool is half prophet.
Yiddish (on foolishness)(Meaning: even a fool is right half the time)
The fool is thirsty in the midst of water.
Ethiopian (on foolishness)
The fool never undertakes little.
Czech (on foolishness)
The hero appears only after the tiger is dead.
Burmese (on cynicism)
The right place at the wrong time.
unknown
You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
Colette
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
Euripedes
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
Unknown Author
He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
J.R.R. Tolkien
If you fear nothing, then you are not brave. You are merely too foolish to be afraid.
Laurell K. Hamilton
Until you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being great.
Cher
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
Horace
Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.
Unknown Author
Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness.
Sophocies
Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain.
Khalil Gibran
Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness.
Sacha Guitry
Foolishness is rarely a matter of lack of intelligence or even lack of information.
John McCarthy
The two most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
Harlan Elison
People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.
Alice Walker
With too much pride a man cannot learn a thing. In and of itself, learning teaches you how foolish you are.
Criss Jami
If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
Epictetus
Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.
James Russell Lowell
I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.
Edith Sitwell
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Only the wisest and the stupidest of men never change.
Confucius
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
William Shakespeare
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
African Proverb
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
English Proverb
The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his way.
Josh Billings
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.
Albert Einstein
A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.
Moliere
A fellow who is always declaring that he’s no fool, usually has his suspicions.
Wilson Mizner
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
