A quotation from Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“He is mad as a hare, poor fellow,
And should be in chains” you say,
I haven’t a doubt of your statement,
But who isn’t mad, I pray?
Why, the world is a great asylum,
And the people are all insane,
Gone daft with pleasure or folly,
Or crazed with passion and pain.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1876), “All Mad,” st. 1, Maurine and Other Poems
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/wilcox-ella-wheeler/…
There are more fools than wise men, and even in the wise there is more folly than wisdom.
[Il y a plus de fous que de sages, et dans le sage même, il y a plus de folie que de sagesse.]
Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 2, ¶ 149 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]
Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/chamfort-nicolas/759…
You know the value of every article of merchandise, but if you don't know the value of your own soul, it's all foolishness.
When we think things can’t get any worse! #Foolishness
“Trump firings cause chaos at agency responsible for America’s nuclear weapons”
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5298190/nuclear-agency-trump-firings-nnsa
(play{o=ar(CombC,ar(Splay,ar(o=SinOsc,f=4*[55,41,73]*(u=rotate(ChaosGen.subclasses,6)).size.fib.midiratio)*perc(Env,0s1,1/4).ar(0,(c={|n|u[n].ar(freq:8).sin}!u.size)>(ar(o,c+2/f,1)+1/2**2)),sin(c.sum)/2),1,1/4+lag(0s1*c))})
A quotation from Horace:
«
Of lingering and gain-seeking make an end;
Think, while there’s time, how soon Death’s pyre may blaze;
And some brief folly mix with prudent ways:
At the fit hour ’tis sweet to unbend.
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/horace/73650/
A quotation from Chamfort, Nicolas:
«
There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools.
[Il y a des sottises bien habillées, comme il y a des sots très bien vêtus.]
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/chamfort-nicolas/73124/
A quotation from Montaigne, Michel de:
«
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
[Personne n’est exempt de dire des fadaises: le malheur est, de les dire curieusement]
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/2882/
A quotation from Herbert, George:
«
Folly growes without watering.
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/herbert-george/71602/
A quotation from Catullus:
«
I still should not want you to smile on all occasions:
for nothing is more silly than a silly smile.
[Tamen renidere usque quaque te nollem;
Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.]
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/catullus/69908/
A quotation from La Bruyere, Jean de:
«
As favour and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.
[À mesure que la faveur et les grands biens se retirent d’un homme, ils laissent voir en lui le ridicule qu’ils couvraient, et qui y était sans que personne s’en aperçût.]
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/la-bruyere-jean-de/66979/
A quotation from Gracián, Baltasar:
«
But many do not know that they do not know, and many think they know when they know nothing. Failings of the intelligence are incorrigible since those who do not know do not know themselves and cannot therefore seek what they lack.
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/gracian-y-morales-baltasar/53078/
A quotation from Cicero, Marcus Tullius:
«
People say that age creeps up on them quicker than they expected. First of all, who forced them to think that way? Does age creep up on adults more quickly than maturity creeps up on children? And again, would their age lie less heavily upon them if they were in their eight hundredth…
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/cicero-marcus-tullius/65674/
A quotation from Chamfort, Nicolas:
«««««
It is safe to wager that every public idea and every accepted convention is sheer foolishness, because it has suited the majority.
[Il y a à parier que toute idée publique, toute convention reçue, est une sottise, car elle a convenu au plus grand nombre.]
»»»»»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/chamfort-nicolas/37787/
A quotation from Euripides:
«««««
A foolish man speaks foolishness.
[Μῶρα γὰρ μῶρος λέγει.]
»»»»»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/euripides/59042/
