Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Folly
A man’s folly is his worst foe and his discretion his best friend.
A man’s folly ought to be his greatest secret.
Among other evils folly has also this: it is always beginning to live.Seneca.
Folly and learning oft dwell together.
Folly as well as wisdom is justified by its children.
Folly hath eagle wings, but the eyes of an owl.Dutch.
Folly is the most incurable of maladies.Spanish.
Folly is the poverty of the mind.
Folly is the product of all countries and all ages.
Folly often goes beyond its bounds, but impudence knows none.Ben Jonson.
If a man have folly in his sleeve it is sure to peep out.Danish.
It folly were a pain, there would be groaning in every house.Spanish.
If we will have the kindness of others we must endure their follies.Dr. Johnson.
It is folly to drown on dry land.
It is folly to gape against an oven.French, Danish.
It is folly to lay out money in the purchase of repentance.Franklin.
It is folly to sing twice to a deaf man.
It is folly to fear what we cannot avoid.Danish.
It is the ordinary way of the world to keep folly at the helm and wisdom under the hatches.
It is well to profit by the folly of others.Latin.
Mingle a little folly with your wisdom.Horace.
Natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable.
Nobody so wise but has a little folly to spare.German.
No folly to being in love.Welsh.
Purposing without performing is mere folly.
The amity which wisdom uniteth not, folly will unite.
The desire for the superfluous is folly, for it hath no bounds.Pythagoras.
The first degree of folly is to think one’s self wise, the next to tell others so, the third to despise all counsel.
The follies of youth are food for repentance in old age.
The folly of one man is the fortune of another.
The malady that is most incurable is folly.Portuguese.
The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom too fine spun.
The shortest follies are the best.French.
To counsel and to disregard his own safety is folly.Phædrus.
Whoever falls sick of folly is long in getting cured.Spanish.