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Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence.
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- A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind.
- Ali, A Hundred Sayings
- I never heard tell of any clever man that came of entirely stupid people.
- Thomas Carlyle, Rectorial Address at Edinburgh, 2nd April 1886
- 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.
- Will Cuppy, The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, 1950
- Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
- Robert J. Hanlon, Murphy's Law book two: More reasons why things go wrong! (1980) ISBN 0843106743 by Arthur Bloch page 52.
- "Folly is as great as the sea. It can compass anything."
- Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.- Friedrich Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans, at Project Gutenberg), Act III, sc. vi (as translated by Anna Swanwick) (1801)
- Variants:
- Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
- Against stupidity the gods themselves labor in vain.
- Against stupidity the gods themselves fight unvictorious
- Against stupidity even the gods contend in vain.
- Against stupidity gods themselves contend in vain.
- With stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
- With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
- Against Stupidity, The Gods Themselves and Contend In Vain? are the titles of the three parts of Isaac Asimov's book The Gods Themselves
- A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.
- Ed Solomon, screenplay, Men in Black
- There is no sin except stupidity.
- Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, Pt. ii
- After a foolish action comes remorse.
- Anonymous; cited as a proverb among negroes in "The Mind of the African Negro as Reflected in His Proverbs" by A. O. Stafford in The Journal of Negro History Vol. 1. No. 1 (January 1916) edited by Carter G. Woodson
- 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.
- (author?)
- When the world begets too many fools, nature provides a Foolkiller.
- Greg Salinger in Issue 10 of Foolkiller limited series (1990-91) (author?)
- I'd all but given up my crusade to rid the world of fools…there are, I found, just too many!
- Foolkiller in Issue 225 of The Amazing Spider-Man (Roger Stern)
Unsourced
- A man learns to skate by staggering about and making a fool of himself; indeed, he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.
- A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
- A fool who knows his foolishness is wise at least to that extent, but a fool who thinks himself wise is a fool indeed.
- A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
- A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.
- Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
- At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.
- Being stupid is its own reward.
- Boy, smart people are dumb.
- Dylan Sprouse in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
- Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
- Edwin Land
- D'oh!
- Homer Simpson
- Even stupid things should be done wisely.
- Jacek Bukowski
- Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
- Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.
- I will not teach a man who is not anxious to learn, and will not explain to one who is not trying to make things clear to himself.
- If something is made so simple that fools can use it, only fools will use it.
- If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?
- In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.
- It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful.
- Intelligence is the ability to articulate one's stupidity.
- Most fools think they are only ignorant.
- Never argue with an idiot. They will only pull you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
- Brad Slipiec
- Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
- "Hanlon's Razor" by Robert J. Hanlon, variations variously attributed to Goethe, Napoleon Bonaparte, William James, Robert Heinlein.
- Never give advice — a wise man won't need it, a fool won't heed it.
- Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
- Out! Out! You demons of stupidity!
- Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Stupid is as stupid does.
- Stupid people do stupid things, smart people outsmart each other, then themselves.
- Stupid people don't know they are stupid.
- Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
- The American people are very generous people and will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity.
- The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
- The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.
- The law is a rule to the fool, but a guide to the wise.
- The most entertaining and ironic part of being an idiot is not being smart enough to realize that you are, and thereby do anything about it.
- Isaac M. Lucero
- The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.
- The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen...and stupidity.
- The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
- There are two kinds of fool. One says, 'This is old, and therefore good.' And one says, 'This is new, and therefore better.'
- Dean Inge
- There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
- There is this difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.
- Though all his life a fool associates with a wise man, he no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup.
- 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
- Who lives without folly isn't as reasonable as he thinks he is.
- With the whole world full of fools, there is none who thinks himself one, or even suspects it.
- God protects us from the stupidity of others; God knows who'll protect me from mine.
- Meaninglessness has thirteen big, juicy letters in it, foolishness has ten at least, ambiguity has eight or nine, while stupid has only one: U!
- Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity?
- Steve Polyak
- You must play the fool a little if you would not be thought wholly a fool...Every day I hear stupid people say things that are not stupid.
- Oh, don't do it arse-backwards!
- Scathing old English working class saying.
- When the world begets too many fools, nature provides a Foolkiller.
- (author?)