“A knowledgeable fool is a greater fool than an ignorant one.”
Molière [e-mailed by a friend without further citation]
“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”
Réné Descartes, Discours de la Méthode (I’ve seen it variously translated; the original is “Ce n'est pas assez d'avoir l'esprit bon, mais le principal est de l'appliquer bien.”)
In my latest National Post column I seize on two New Year’s Eve press releases of the sort that will make 2019 yet another year of political mendacity if we tolerate it.
“It ain’t what a man don’t know as makes him a fool, but what he does know that ain’t so.”
The “homely wisdom of Josh Billings (1818-1885)” quoted in Daniel Boorstin Cleopatra’s Nose
“Many have been the wise speeches of fools, though not so many as the foolish speeches of wise men.”
Thomas Fuller (1608-61) quoted as “Thought du jour” in Globe & Mail May 29, 2000
“How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame mind says that it is we who are limping. But for that we should feel sorry rather than angry.”
Blaise Pascal Pensées