8 Wisest Lines from Shakespeare’s Fools
April Fools’ Day is fast approaching, so here’s a look at the knavish wisdom of the Bard’s merriest philosophers.
1. Truth’s a dog must to kennel; he must be whipp’d out…
-The Fool, King Lear, I.4.640
2. For honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar.
3. Why, ‘some are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrown upon them.
-Feste, Twelfth Night, V.1.2583
4. Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
5. Good counsellors lack no clients: though you change your place, you need not
change your trade.
-Pompey, Measure for Measure, I.2.195
6. Winning will put any man into courage.
7. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage.
-Clown, All’s Well That Ends Well, I.3.372
8. The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be
a fool.
-Touchstone, As You Like It, V.1.2217
