There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we
have.
—Don Herold, 1924
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser
than before. […] He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without
having come by their ignorance the hard way.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 1963
***
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
—Quintilian, *95 AD
Were there no fools, there would be no wise men.
—German proverb
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
—Mark Twain, 1897
Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so.
—Lord Chesterfield, 1745
***
Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
—Malcolm Forbes, 1990
There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to
recognize ability.
—Robert Half, 1960
It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
—Walter Lippmann, 1929
The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.
—Thomas Sowell, 1980
***
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
—Seneca
9
We are obliged to regard many of our original minds as crazy — at least until we have
become as clever as they are.
—Georg Christian Lichtenberg
10
9
This is a succinct paraphrase (with a reference) of an earlier line by Aristotle.
10
From his Notebook D (1773-1775).
70
On the Wise and Otherwise, Sanity and Madness
have.
—Don Herold, 1924
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser
than before. […] He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without
having come by their ignorance the hard way.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 1963
***
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
—Quintilian, *95 AD
Were there no fools, there would be no wise men.
—German proverb
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
—Mark Twain, 1897
Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so.
—Lord Chesterfield, 1745
***
Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
—Malcolm Forbes, 1990
There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to
recognize ability.
—Robert Half, 1960
It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
—Walter Lippmann, 1929
The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.
—Thomas Sowell, 1980
***
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
—Seneca
9
We are obliged to regard many of our original minds as crazy — at least until we have
become as clever as they are.
—Georg Christian Lichtenberg
10
9
This is a succinct paraphrase (with a reference) of an earlier line by Aristotle.
10
From his Notebook D (1773-1775).
70
On the Wise and Otherwise, Sanity and Madness