Samuel Johnson
Lexicographer, Essayist, Critic
"Where there is emulation, there will be vanity; where there is vanity, there will be folly."
Folly quotes
Folly
142 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
William Shakespeare
Playwright, Poet
"Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly."
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Leader, Emperor
"America is a fortunate country. She grows by the follies of our European nations."
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Politician, Philosopher, Orator
"The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend."
Richard Adams
Author
"A thing can be true and still be desperate folly."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside folly — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Folly quotes (page 1 of 8)
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"Silence is not always a sign of wisdom, but babbling is ever a mark of folly."
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"Arrogance is ever accompanied by folly."
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"We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride and folly than we are taxed by government."
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"Those who realise their folly are not true fools."
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"Every man has his folly, but the greatest folly of all … is not to have one."
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"Folly loves the martyrdom of fame."
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"The customs of the world are so many conventional follies."
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"Covering discretion with a coat of folly."
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"To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbsial disgrace."
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"It is a great folly to be willing to violate the friendship of God, rather than the law of human friendship."
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"A law can be both economic folly and constitutional."
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"The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie."
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"A fool's bolt is soon shot."
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"I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly."
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"Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of."
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"Alas! we see that the small have always suffered for the follies of the great. [Fr., Helas! on voit que de tout temps Les Petits ont pati des sottises des grands.]"
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"The best plan is to profit by the folly of others."
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"Fool beckons fool, and dunce awakens dunce."
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"Folly is often more cruel in the consequences than malice can be in the intent."
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"Opponents of globalisation may see it as a new folly, but it is neither particularly new, nor, in general, a folly."
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