William Shakespeare Quotes About Stupidity

• The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue!

  William Shakespeare

  Ignorance, Stupidity, Common

  William Shakespeare, Samuel Ayscough, Nicholas Rowe, Samuel Johnson (1791). “Shakspeare's Dramatic Works: With Explanatory Notes. To which is Now Added, a Copious Index to the Remarkable Passages and Words”, p.1570

• I love him for his sake;
  And yet I know him a notorious liar,
  Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
  Yet these fix'd evils sit so fit in him
  That they take place when virtue's steely bones
  Looks bleak i' th' cold wind; withal, full oft we see
  Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.

  William Shakespeare

  Liars, I Love Him, Thinking

  William Shakespeare, Thomas Bowdler (1850). “The Family Shakspeare, in One Volume: In which Nothing is Added to the Original Text, But Those Words and Expressions are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety be Read in a Family”, p.217

• The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie.

  William Shakespeare

  Stupidity, May, Folly

  William Shakespeare, Anthony B. Dawson (2003). “Troilus and Cressida”, p.250, Cambridge University Press

• Lord, what fools these mortals be!

  William Shakespeare

  Summer, Dream, Stupid People

  'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595-6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 115

• But I remember now
  I am in this earthly world, where to do harm
  Is often laudable, to do good sometime
  Accounted dangerous folly.

  William Shakespeare

  Stupidity, World, Remember

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.310

• Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.

  William Shakespeare

  Stupidity, You Like It, Folly

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 174

• This man, lady, hath robb'd many beasts of their particular additions: he is as valiant as a lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant-a man into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his valour is crush'd into folly, his folly sauced with discretion.

  William Shakespeare

  Crush, Men, Elephants

  William Shakespeare, George Steevens, Samuel Johnson, Isaac Reed (1793). “The Plays of William Shakspeare: In Fifteen Volumes : with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators”, p.229

• We that are true lovers run into strange capers; but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly.

  William Shakespeare

  Running, Stupidity, Strange

  William Shakespeare, James Boswell, Alexander Pope, Edward Capell, Samuel Johnson (1821). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.393

• The why is plain as way to parish church:
  He that a fool doth very wisely hit
  Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
  Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not,
  The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
  Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool.

  William Shakespeare

  Wise, Smart, Men

  William Shakespeare, Samuel Weller Singer, William Watkiss Lloyd, John Thompson, Thomas Stothard (1856). “As you like it. Taming of the shrew. All's well that ends well. Twelfth night”, p.42

• To be in love- where scorn is bought with groans,
  Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment's mirth
  With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights;
  If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
  If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
  However, but a folly bought with wit,
  Or else a wit by folly vanquished.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Night, Stupidity

  William Shakespeare (1867). “The Pictorial edition of the works of Shakspere, ed. by C. Knight. [8 vols., including a vol. entitled William Shakspere, by C. Knight]. [8 vols. The vol. containing the biogr. is of the 3rd ed.].”, p.19

• Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness.

  William Shakespeare

  Giving, Stupidity, Age

  1606 Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra, act1, sc.3, l.57.

• She marking them begins a wailing note And sings extemporally a woeful ditty How love makes young men thrall and old men dote How love is wise in folly, foolish-witty Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe, And still the choir of echoes answer so.

  William Shakespeare

  Wise, Witty, Love Is

  William Shakespeare, Katherine Duncan-Jones, H. R. Woudhuysen (2007). “Poems: Third Series”, p.203, Cengage Learning EMEA

• Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
  And so doth yours: your fault was not your folly;
  Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,
  Subjected tribute to commanding love,
  Against whose fury and unmatched force
  The aweless lion could not wage the fight
  Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Fighting, Hands

  William Shakespeare (2014). “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, p.305, Race Point Pub

• And writers say, as the most forward bud
  Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
  Even so by love the young and tender wit
  Is turn'd to folly, blasting in the bud,
  Losing his verdure even in the prime,
  And all the fair effects of future hopes.

  William Shakespeare

  Blow, Stupidity, Bud

  William Shakespeare (1858). “The Plays of Shakespeare”, p.4

• Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As mans ingratitude Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho sing, heigh-ho unto the green holly Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. Then heigh-ho the holly This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, That dost not bite so nigh As benefits forgot Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend rememberd not.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Art, Winter

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 174

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