The wise fool, or the wisdom of the fool is a theme that seems to contradict itself in which the fool may have an attribute of wisdom. With probable beginnings early in the civilizing process, the concept developed during the Middle Ages when there was a rise of "civilizing" factors (such as the advent of certain practices of manners in Western Europe) and achieved its most pronounced state in the Renaissance. The wisdom of the fool occupies a place in opposition to that of learned knowledge.
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Famous quotes containing the words wise and/or fool:
“You are wise,
Or else you love not, for to be wise and love
Exceeds man’s might.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure o’ one fool as ‘ull tell him he’s wise.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)