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:
“A wise child pleases his father; a skinny dog shames his master.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)