Stupidity

"We are growing serious, and, let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull."

"The world’s prize stupid oaf is the man who thinks he already has all the answers."

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that."

"I never heard tell of any clever man that came of entirely stupid people."

"With various readings stored his empty skull, Learn'd without sense, and venerably dull."

"All humans are stupid, but the smarter ones at least have a handle on their own ignorance."

"I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull."

"Aristotle taught that the brain exists merely to cool the blood and is not involved in the process of thinking. This is true only of certain persons."

"The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes And gaping mouth, that testified surprise."

"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

"People who are stupid, unscrupulous, or hypocritical, think that others are just the same. And — this is the real pity — they treat them as if they were."

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

"I distinguish four types. There are clever, hardworking, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and hardworking; their place is the General Staff. The next ones are stupid and lazy; they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the mental clarity and strength of nerve necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is both stupid and hardworking; he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always only cause damage."

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

"A boor cannot be sin-fearing, an ignoramus cannot be pious, a bashful one cannot learn, a short-tempered person cannot teach, nor does anyone who does much business grow wise."

"Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature."

"He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others."

"Everything happens for a reason, and sometimes the reason is you’re stupid and made a bad decision."

"Fervid readiness to judge is the most detestable stupidity, the most pernicious evil."

"Be dauntless, valiant, tragic, whatever you like; but don’t be stupid."

"It’s too bad that stupidity isn't painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable."

"Life is hard. It's a whole lot harder if you're stupid."

"We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known. They have known for thousands of years that to lock a sick person into solitary confinement makes him worse. They have known for thousands of years that a poor man who is frightened of his landlord and of the police is a slave. They have known it. We know it. But do the great enlightened mass of the British people know it? No. It is our task, Ella, yours and mine, to tell them. Because the great men are too great to be bothered. They are already discovering how to colonise Venus and to irrigate the moon. That is what is important for our time. You and I are the boulder-pushers. All our lives, you and I, we’ll put all our energies, all our talents into pushing a great boulder up a mountain. The boulder is the truth that the great men know by instinct, and the mountain is the stupidity of mankind."

"She gave him a look that suggested his stupidity had grown so powerful, it had become a force of nature like the ocean or the wind."

"The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head."

"Folly is as great as the sea. It can compass anything."

"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."

"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens."

"If a person is stupid, we excuse him by saying that he cannot help it; but if we attempted to excuse in precisely the same way the person who is bad, we should be laughed at."

"Sand, salt, and an iron weight are easier to bear than the stupid person."

"It is better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be stupid and speak lies."

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

"Until now, human intelligence, which is no more than a minute aspect of universal intelligence, has been distorted and misused by the ego. I call that “intelligence in the service of madness.” Splitting the atom requires great intelligence. Using that intelligence for building and stockpiling atom bombs is insane or at best extremely unintelligent. Stupidity is relatively harmless, but intelligent stupidity is highly dangerous. This intelligent stupidity, for which one could find countless obvious examples, is threatening our survival as a species."

"There is no sin except stupidity."

"After a foolish action comes remorse."

"Weapons-Grade Stupidity: Tech-support slang for customer intelligence that is so low it poses a severe hazard to those who come in contact with it."

"When the world begets too many fools, nature provides a Foolkiller."

"I'd all but given up my crusade to rid the world of fools…there are, I found, just too many!"

"La faute en est aux dieux, qui la firent si bête."

"The impenetrable stupidity of Prince George (son-in-law of James II.) served his turn. It was his habit, when any news was told him, to exclaim, "Est il possible?"—"Is it possible?""

"Schad'um die Leut'! Sind sonst wackre Brüder. Aber das denkt, wie ein Seifensieder."

"Peter was dull; he was at first Dull,—Oh, so dull—so very dull! Whether he talked, wrote, or rehearsed— Still with his dulness was he cursed— Dull—beyond all conception—dull."

"Personally, I have a great admiration for stupidity."