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Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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Wisdom

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• “You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind-legs. But by standing a whole flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men. If man were not a gregarious animal, the world might have achieved, by this time, some real progress towards civilization. Segregate him, and he is no fool. But let him loose among his fellows, and he is lost —- he becomes a unit in unreason.”

  Max Beerbohm (1872–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “2454. If any one giveth thee excessive Praises more than can handsomely belong to thee, thou art to think of him, that he taketh thee for vain and credulous, and easy to be deceived, and effectually a Fool.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “98. A Fool and his Money are soon parted.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “108. A Fool’s Tongue is long enough to cut his own Throat.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “4537. The Fool is busy in everyone's Business but his own.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “4693. The older a Fool is, the worse he is.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “4867. There cannot be a more intolerable Thing than a fortunate Fool.”

  Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “And yet we must believe, on pain of being communal, that no system of law has guaranteed as many rights to women as shariah, that no religion is as solicitous of them as Islam. ... The argument can fool no one but the determined apologist.”

  Arun Shourie (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.”

  Edward Carson (1854–1935) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in the House of Lords (14 December 1921)

• “They call me deranged. The hope is that they are right! It is of no greater or lesser import for yet another fool to wander this Earth. But if I am right and science is wrong, then may the Lord God have mercy on mankind!”

  Viktor Schauberger (1885–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I sincerely hope I'm not as big a fool as that. Whatever else I may be, I like to think that I'm not an idiot.”

  Caitlín R. Kiernan (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I have assumed that the goal, enlightenment, exists. I have had to search and it is the search itself which has been choking me and keeping me out of my natural state. There is no such thing as spiritual or psychological enlightenment because there is no such thing as spirit or psyche. I have been a damn fool all my life, searching for something which does not exist. My search is at an end.”

  U. G. Krishnamurti (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There is always an unconscious collaboration among artists.. ..the artist who imagine himself a Robinson Crusoe is either a primitive or a fool.”

  William Baziotes (1912–1963) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: from Baziote's text for a symposium in 1954; as quoted in William Baziotes – paintings and drawings, ed. Michael Preble, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 2004, p. 18

• “Brian Sewell is a fool. For some years he seemed to have it in for me and Hockney and [[w:R. B. Kitaj|[R.B.] Kitaj]]. Even if he wasn't writing about us he'd always find a way of bringing us in. He'd say, "so and so was a bad artist but not as bad as Hockney, Kitaj or Blake." Things like that.”

  Peter Blake (born 1932) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Simon O'Hagan "Credo: Peter Blake", The Independent on Sunday (20 November 2005), accessed from findarticles.com (22 January 2007).

• “[On Bill Clinton] If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied. Besides, no one but a fool or a Republican ever took him for a liberal. (Introduction)”

  Molly Ivins (1944–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If a man who claims to see the future is a fool, how much more so, the man who believes he can control it? We think we steer the ship of fate, but all of us are guided by unseen stars.”

  Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Schoolmaster: But God, whatever else He is, and of course He is everything else, is not a fool.”

  Alan Bennett (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Not counting you I've never had a heartache. Not counting you I never have been blue. There's no exceptions to the rule; I've never been nobody's fool. I've never lost at love not counting you.”

  Garth Brooks (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “....But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay, Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows, And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way. Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes, Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: "Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart and write.”

  Philip Sidney (1554–1586) said by 1586 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Only a fool would attack us.”

  Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Statement of June 1941, as quoted in Hitler and Stalin : Parallel Lives (1993) by Alan Bullock, p. 715

• “The man of action is not the headstrong fool who rushes into danger with no thought for himself, but the man who puts into practice the things he knows.”

  Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Misfortunes cannot suffice to make a fool into an intelligent man.”

  Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In this fool's paradise he drank delight.”

  George Crabbe (1754–1832) first seen 1810 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Borough (1810), Letter xii, "Players".

• “Friday may have tricked his parents, the SHE and half the ChronoGuard, but there’s one person no teenage boy ever managed to fool.” “And that is?” “His younger sister.”

  Jasper Fforde (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I have known exile and a wild passion Of longing changing to a cold ache. King, beggar and fool, I have been all by turns, Knowing the body’s sweetness, the mind’s treason; Taliesin still, I show you a new world, risen, Stubborn with beauty, out of the heart’s need.”

  R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Taliesin 1952

• “There are, while human miseries abound, A thousand ways to waste superfluous wealth, Without one fool or flatterer at your board, Without one hour of sickness or disgust.”

  John Armstrong (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: John Armstrong (poet) (attributed)

• “Now if there's a smile on my face, It's only there tryin' to fool the public, But when it comes down to foolin' you; Now honey, that's quite a different subject. But don't let my glad expression Give you the wrong impression. Really I'm sad. I'm sadder than sad. You're gone and I'm hurtin' so bad. Like a clown I pretend to be glad.”

  Smokey Robinson (born 1940) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Tears of a Clown, written by Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Hank Cosby (1970)

• “I assure you, paladin king, that if I had a sword in hand, I would willingly cut out your heart, here and now. If you expect me to beg look elsewhere. The fool monk can bring me to my knees, but if I am not there of my own choosing, then calling it begging would ring as hollow as does your crown, yes?" —Artemis Entreri”

  R. A. Salvatore (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Only a great fool would call the new political science diabolic: it has no attributes peculiar to fallen angels. It is not even Machiavellian, for Machiavelli's teaching was graceful, subtle, and colorful. Nor is it Neronian. Nevertheless one may say of it that it fiddles while Rome burns. It is excused by two facts: it does not know that it fiddles, and it does not know that Rome burns.”

  Leo Strauss (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad.”

  Hosea (born 784 BC) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “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.”

  Cynthia Heimel (1947–2018) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics" in The Village Voice (1983)

• “What is this thing called love? This funny thing called love? Just who can solve this mystery? Why should it make a fool of me?”

  Cole Porter (1891–1964) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: What Is This Thing Called Love?" from Wake Up and Dream (1929)

• “Be a clown, be a clown, All the world loves a clown. Act the fool, play the calf, And you'll always have the last laugh.”

  Cole Porter (1891–1964) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Be A Clown" (written in 1946)

• “If you suspend the Geneva Conventions, give the green light to anything that will get intelligence, round up thousands all over the globe with reckless disregard for guilt or innocence, you are effectively and knowingly issuing orders to seize innocent people and torture them. Any president who decides to do that and then says it was not his intention to do that is a fraud or a fool.”

  Andrew Sullivan (born 1963) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 'Disgrace,' Ctd.," The Daily Dish (19 June 2008)

• “A man never knows what a fool he is until he hears himself imitated by one.”

  Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917) said by 1917 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted by Max Beerbohm in Hebert Beerbohm Tree: Some Memories of Him and of His Art Collected by Max Beerbohm (1920).

• “It takes one woman twenty years to make a man of her son—and another woman twenty minutes to make a fool of him.”

  Helen Rowland (1876–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No Jew was ever fool enough to turn Christian unless he was a clever man.”

  Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Children of the Ghetto (1892), bk. 1, ch. 7.

• “It has been said that an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound; if that be so, we were certainly engineers.”

  Nevil Shute (1899–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “High in the old oak pulpit This Lord of all misrule— I think it was Will Summers That once was Shakespeare's fool — Held up his hand for silence, And all the church grew still: "And are you snoring yet," he said, "Or have you slept your fill?”

  Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I want to reach people and express myself. You have to put up with the risk of being misunderstood if you are going to try to communicate. You have to put up with people projecting their own ideas, attitudes, misunderstanding you. But it's worth being a public fool if that's all you can be in order to communicate yourself.”

  Edie Sedgwick (1943–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A fool and his money be soon at debate: Which after with sorrow repents him too late.”

  Thomas Tusser (1524–1580) said by 1580 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

  Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Did Stanton say I was a damned fool? Then I dare say I must be one, for Stanton is generally right and he always says what he means.”

  Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in Lincoln; An Account of his Personal Life, Especially of its Springs of Action as Revealed and Deepened by the Ordeal of War (1922) by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson.

• “[Magic] can be poorly presented and surrounded by naffness, and often amounts to little more than childish attempts to fool you. I guess it’s largely to escape those associations that I’ve gone the route I have.”

  Derren Brown (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The Pinance laughed. “I hate the man, but I have never before seen him as a fool or a coward.” “He is not a military man, my lord. He is a schemer, skilled in the art of politics and treachery.” “It seems to me that those two beasts are one and the same,” said the Pinance.”

  David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Only a fool loves war. Or a man who has never seen it. The trouble is that the survivors forget about the horrors and remember only the battle lust. They pass on that memory, and other men hunger for it.”

  David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But from now on act the part. You will be amazed at the number of people you fool. Don't share your doubts! Life is a game, Scaler. Play it like that.”

  David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[Chapman] is a strong candidate for being the fool’s gold of the current free-agent market.”

  Joe Kehoskie (born 1973) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On $30 million Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman's readiness for Major League Baseball, from the New York Times article "Risks Seen in Signing Cuban Defector" by Jack Curry (3 December 2009)

• “Bless your soul, you've got you're head in the clouds, You made a fool out of you, And, boy, she's bringing you down, She made your heart melt, But you're cold to the core, Now rumour has it she ain't got your love anymore.”

  Adele (singer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Those who have not learnt from Gasteiz will be responsible for their own acts. Those who want to fight, will be fought. With all of its consequences. Stop being fool.”

  Manuel Fraga Iribarne (1922–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

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