Folly Quotes · Page 24

In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.

— Oliver Goldsmith

“It is certainly impossible to lose respect if you lose out of some stupid discussions.”

— Michael Bassey Johnson

Every nation thinks its own madness normal and requisite; more passion and more fancy it calls folly, less it calls imbecility.

— George Santayana

Grant folly's prayers that hinder folly's wish, And serve the ends of wisdom.

— George Eliot

It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.

— Abraham Lincoln

There is perhaps no surer mark of folly, than to attempt to correct natural infirmities of those we love.

— Henry Fielding

It is the greatest folly of which a man can be capable to sit down with a slate and pencil to plan…

— William Graham Sumner

Leave each one his touch of folly; it helps to lighten life's burden which, if he could see himself as he is,…

— John Lancaster Spalding

Press on! If Fortune play thee false To-day, tomorrow she'll be true; Whom now she sinks she now exalts, Taking old gifts…

— Benjamin

The assumption of time is one of humanity's greatest follies. We tell ourselves that there's always tomorrow, when we can no more…

— Richard Paul Evans

As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and…

— William James

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth…

— Akhenaton

Hatred also is short lived; but that which makes the splendor of the present and the glory of the future remains forever…

— Thucydides

This man, lady, hath robb'd many beasts of their particular additions: he is as valiant as a lion, churlish as the bear,…

— William Shakespeare

The gayety of life, like the beauty and the moral worth of life, is a saving grace, which to ignore is folly,…

— Agnes Repplier

Music is made one of Satan's most attractive agencies to ensnare souls; but, when turned to a good account, it is a…

— Ellen G. White

I believe we have these capabilities. It doesn't mean that we will use them. Our future is not assured here. It's not…

— Edgar Mitchell

Of course, both [Oscar] Wilde & [Vladimir] Nabokov believe in many things, and these things emerge in their writing clearly - for…

— Joyce Carol Oates

The minute we leave south Lebanon we will have to erase the word Hezbollah from our vocabulary, because the whole idea of…

— Amos Oz

Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield! Against stupidity the very gods Themselves contend in vain. Exalted reason, Resplendent daughter of the…

— Friedrich Schiller

I had paid for my folly and, as a reward, was invited to take part in the nest builder’s performance piece. The…

— David Sedaris

God ultimately raises up leaders for one primary reason: His glory. He shows His power in our weakness. He demonstrates His wisdom…

— Matt Chandler

I bear to the wisdom of Sir Philip Sidney, who said that next to hunting he liked hawking worst. However, though he…

— Frances Osborne

Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to which we are decreed; but while the soul and body continue united, it can…

— Samuel Johnson

I saw "Follies" again at thirty, and you know, I had this great appreciation for [Stephen] Sondheim's brilliance, his lyrics.

— Charles Busch

Let the politicians debate equal pay and pursue the folly of a war on women in America.

— Brian Kilmeade

Always the cat remains a little beyond the limits we try to set for him in our blind folly.

— Andre Norton

I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her…

— Leonardo da Vinci

Fond of those hives where folly reigns, And cards and scandal are the chains, Where the pert virgin slights a name, And…

— Jonathan Swift

It is a great folly to be willing to violate the friendship of God, rather than the law of human friendship.

— Teresa of Avila

Wisdom and folly are equal before the face of Infinity, for Infinity knows them not.

— Leonid Andreyev

And if my present actions strike you as foolish, let's just say I've been accused of folly by a fool.

— Sophocles

To ask that which is unjust at the hands of the just, is an injustice in itself; to expect that which is…

— Plautus

... then he offers me his arm. As I take it, I wonder what folly decreed that women cannot walk unassisted.

— R.L. LaFevers

If someone tries to use you as a tool, you shouldn't mind it, because it is their choice and folly, not yours.

— Jude Morgan

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit.

— William Shakespeare

“he showed consummate folly in allowing the Duke to fight on ground of his own choosing.”

— Frank McLynn

“In fact one is tempted to ask whether there is a single man left ready, for once, to commit an outrageous folly.”

— Søren Kierkegaard

Poetry is a dance music measuring buck-and-wing follies along with the gravest and stateliest dead-marches.

— Carl Sandburg

The Steps to Folly as well as Sin are gradual, and almost imperceptible, and when we are once on the Decline, we…

— Mary Astell