Folly Quotes - Page 15

• I was also built from delusional optimism and folly.

  A.S. King

  Optimism, Delusional, Built

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• The folly and hubris of the policy makers who heedlessly thrust the nation into an ill-defined and open-ended 'global war on terror' without the foggiest notion of what victory would look like, how it would be won, and what it might cost approached standards hitherto achieved only by slightly mad German warlords.

  Andrew Bacevich

  War, Mad, Victory

  Andrew J. Bacevich (2010). “Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War”, p.10, Metropolitan Books

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• I wish the state of enthusiasm I am in may last, for to-day I have felt that there is a God; I have been devotional, and my mind has bben led away from the follies that it is mostly wrapped up in.

  Elizabeth Fry

  Mind, Wish, May

  "Elizabeth Fry: Life and Labors of the Eminent Philanthropist, Preacher and Prison Reformer".

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• It is a cruel folly to offer up to ostentation so many lives of creatures, as to make up the state of our treats.

  William Penn

  Life, Death, Animal

  William Penn (1782). “The Select Works of William Penn: In Five Volumes. ...”, p.127

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• Where lives the man that has not tried How mirth can into folly glide, And folly into sin!

  Walter Scott

  Life, Men, Mirth

  Sir Walter Scott (1855). “The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott”, p.388

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• Thus aged men, full loth and slow, The vanities of life forego, And count their youthful follies o'er, Till Memory lends her light no more.

  Walter Scott

  Life, Memories, Men

  Walter Scott, Sir Walter Scott (1841). “The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart”, p.324

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• It is the very wantonness of folly for a man to search out the frets and burdens of his calling and give his mind every day to a consideration of them. They belong to human life. They are inevitable. Brooding only gives them strength.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Life, Men, Giving

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and Ears”, p.233

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• 'Knowledge, without common sense,' says Lee, is 'folly; without method, it is waste; without kindness, it is fanaticism; without religion, it is death.' But with common sense, it is wisdom with method, it is power; with charity, it is beneficence; with religion, it is virtue, and life, and peace.

  Austin Farrer

  Life, Peace, Kindness

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• FOLLY, n. That "gift and faculty divine" whose creative and controlling energy inspires Man's mind, guides his actions and adorns his life.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, Men, Creative

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2400, Delphi Classics

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• Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man.

  Alexander Pope

  Life, Laughter, Eye

  'An Essay on Man' Epistle 1 (1733) l. 13

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• One man's justice is another's injustice; one man's beauty another's ugliness; one man's wisdom anpther's folly.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Wisdom, Men, Justice

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• In spite of every sage whom Greece can show, Unerring wisdom never dwelt below; Folly in all of every age we see, The only difference lies in the degree.

  Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

  Wisdom, Lying, Differences

  "Satires (Satire 4)". Book by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, 1716.

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• The picture placed the busts between
  Adds to the thought much strength;
  Wisdom and Wit are little seen,
  But Folly's at full length.

  Jane Brereton

  Wisdom, Add, Littles

  "Specimens of British Poetesses". Book by Alexander Dyce, 1825.

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• Faith, joy, optimism. But not the folly of closing your eyes to reality.

  Josemaria Escriva

  Eye, Reality, Optimism

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• Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are: 1) tyranny or oppression, of which history provides so many well-known examples that they do not need citing; 2) excessive ambition, such as Athens' attempted conquest of Sicily in the Peloponnesian War, Philip II's of England via the Armada, Germany's twice-attempted rule of Europe by a self-conceived master race, Japan's bid for an empire of Asia; 3) incompetence or decadence, as in the case of the late Roman empire, the last Romanovs and the last imperial dynasty of China; and finally 4) folly or perversity.

  Barbara Tuchman

  War, Ambition, Race

  Barbara Tuchman (2015). “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam”, p.11, Crux Publishing Ltd

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• We all have our youthful follies, embarassing to recall -- but people somehow find it hard to dismiss as a youthful folly anything that has happened to be a financial success.

  John Wyndham

  People, Financial, Embarassing

  John Wyndham (2003). “The Day of the Triffids”

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• Remember that the Tarot is a great and sacred arcanum - its abuse is an obscenity in the inner and a folly in the outer. It is intended for quite other purposes than to determine when the tall dark man will meet the fair rich widow.

  Jack Parsons

  Dark, Men, Abuse

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• 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

  Choices, Mind, Trying

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• For the rest of my life there are two days that will never again trouble me. The first day is yesterday with all its blunders and tears, follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed away, beyond my control forever. The other day is tomorrow with all its pitfalls and threats, its dangers and mystery. Until the sun rises again I have no stake in tomorrow, for it is still unborn.

  Og Mandino

  Two, Yesterday, Forever

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• It would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Mistake, People, Political

  Calvin Coolidge (1924). “Calvin Coolidge, His Ideals of Citizenship as Revealed Through His Speeches and Writings”

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• The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Degrees, Bliss, Form

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• Hope's Folly is a rapid-fire romp through futuristic political intrigue and high-risk passion The tug of war between decorum and passion keeps the romantic intrigue smoldering. With Hope's Folly, Linnea Sinclair builds on a secure reputation as a leading fashioner of science fiction romance. She straddles and blends these genres with a unique bravura and wit.

  Philip K. Jason

  War, Passion, Unique

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• It begins with skepticism. The history of human folly, and our own susceptibility to illusions and fallacies, tell us that men and women are fallible.

  Steven Pinker

  Men, Illusion, Skepticism

  Steven Pinker (2011). “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”, p.209, Penguin

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• Scientific advertising has altered many old plans and conceptions. It has proved many long established methods to be folly

  Claude C. Hopkins

  Long, Advertising, Method

  Claude C. Hopkins (2010). “Scientific Advertising”, p.82, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The greatest wisdom is to make the enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest folly: for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Dream, Reality, Hands

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2012). “Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer”, p.225, Simon and Schuster

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