Only a genius can play a fool.

Genius is play, and man's capacity for achieving genius is infinite, and many may achieve genius only through play.

— William Saroyan

“The true man of genius deliberately subordinates himself, reduces himself to a negative, and allows his genius to play through him as It will.…

— Aleister Crowley

It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There was never a genius who was not thought a fool until he disclosed himself; whereas he is a fool then only.

— Ambrose Bierce

I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe The bosom of a friend will hold a secret Mine own could not contain.

— Philip Massinger

Is it worth the name of freedom to be at liberty to play the fool?

— John Locke

“To initiate something is to play the fool.”

— Chris Kraus

Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where but in's own house.

— William Shakespeare

“If wisdom's silence then it's time to play the fool.”

— Chris Kraus

Tell me who can I trust if I can't trust in you and I refuse to let you play me for a fool.

— Mambo All Stars

The most perceptive character in a play is the fool, because the man who wishes to seem simple cannot possibly be a simpleton.

— Anonymous

Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow, Ang'ring itself and others.

— William Shakespeare

If you play with a fool at home he'll play with you in the market.

— Vikrant Parsai

Thus we play the fool with the time and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.

— William Shakespeare

When we play the fool, how wideThe theatre expands! beside,How long the audience sits before us!How many prompters! what a chorus!

— Walter Savage Landor