A Quote by Edward Abbey

Only a fool is astonished by the foolishness of mankind.

Edward Abbey

Quote Topics

Astonished Fool Foolishness Mankind Only

Quote Author

Edward Abbey
American - Author
January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989

And if you think my acts are foolishness the foolishness may be in a fool's eye.

Sophocles

We could almost say that being willing to be a fool is one of the first wisdoms. So acknowledging foolishness is always a very important and powerful experience. The phenomenal world can be perceived and seen properly if we see it from the perspective of being a fool. There is very little distance between being a fool and being wise; they are extremely close. When we are really, truly fools, when we actually acknowledge our foolishness, then we are way ahead. We are not even in the process of becoming wise — we are already wise.

Chogyam Trungpa

The reactionary suicide is ‘wise,’ and the revolutionary suicide is a ‘fool,’ a fool for the revolution in the way Paul meant when he spoke of being a ‘fool for Christ,’ That foolishness can move mountains of oppression; it is our great leap and our commitment to the dead and the unborn.

Huey Newton

The fool who recognizes his foolishness, is a wise man. But the fool who believes himself a wise man, he really is a fool.

Gautama Buddha

We must accustom ourselves to the follies of others and not be astonished at the foolishness that takes place in our presence.

Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

The fool is not the man who merely does foolish things. The fool is the man who does not know enough to cash in on his foolishness.

Elbert Hubbard

One may have been a fool, but there's no foolishness like being bitter.

Kathleen Norris

If to some my tale seems foolishness I am content that such could count me fool.

Sophocles

Perhaps there is a reason that there is no fool piece on the chessboard. What action, a fool? What strategy, a fool? What use, a fool? Ah, but a fool resides in a deck of cards, a joker, sometimes two. Of no worth, of course. No real purpose. The appearance of a trump, but none of the power: Simply an instrument of chance. Only a dealer may give value to the joker.

Christopher Moore

Men are so completely fools by necessity that he is but a fool in a higher strain of folly who does not confess his foolishness.

Blaise Pascal

For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening's experiments. Astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever.

Arthur Sullivan

The wise man who is not heeded is counted a fool, and the fool who proclaims the general folly first and loudest passes for a prophet and Führer, and sometimes it is luckily the other way round as well, or else mankind would long since have perished of stupidity.

Carl Jung

It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.

Harold MacMillan

If I'm astonished by what I've done, then I know I've been somewhere in the making of it but not during the making of it. Only after the fact. If I'm not astonished, then I've failed in the making of it.