It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Folly
(For A. K. K.)
What distant mountains thrill and glow
Beneath our Lady Folly's tread?
Why has she left us, wise in woe,
Shrewd, practical, uncomforted?
We cannot love or dream or sing,
We are too cynical to pray,
There is no joy in anything
Since Lady Folly went away.
Many a knight and gentle maid,
Whose glory shines from years gone by,
Through ignorance was unafraid
And as a fool knew how to die.
Saint Folly rode beside Jehanne
And broke the ranks of Hell with her,
And Folly's smile shone brightly on
Christ's plaything, Brother Juniper.
Our minds are troubled and defiled
By study in a weary school.
O for the folly of the child!
The ready courage of the fool!
Lord, crush our knowledge utterly
And make us humble, simple men;
And cleansed of wisdom, let us see
Our Lady Folly's face again.
poem by Joyce Kilmer
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Chanson d’Amour
I thought to live without true love
All my life through to be at peace,
But this heart, once again, would prove
Its folly from which I had won free.
Greater the folly is in me
Than child crying foolishly
To possess the lovely star
He sees shining clear and far.
However much I may despair
Love has well rewarded me
For serving him with all the care
I possess, without treachery,
Making Folly’s King of me.
Let all beware his deceit
Who grants such a gift, we see,
To those who serve loyally.
If I show anger it’s no wonder
To one who wounds me so sore
God! If I had him in my power
For just one day and no more:
Then he’d pay for his folly
As God my witness be!
He’d pay with his death, unless
He vanquished my lady blessed.
Ay! Noble heart, that is so wise,
Don’t scorn all my foolishness.
I know I’ve not the slightest right
To love you, just a lover’s right:
But folly drives us recklessly
Like a storm-tossed ship at sea,
That’s blown where the wind will blow,
Until all’s wrecked and brought low.
My lady who lacks never a grace,
Generous, kind, show me mercy:
Since there’s no evil in that face
But all good shines there clearly,
You know from whence this folly
That takes my life comes to me.
To whom can I cry again,
Except to you, in pain?
Song, pay her your respects, she
Is my sweet folly, and please
Beg her for God and honour
Never to prove a traitor.
poem by Le Châtelain de Coucy
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Folly And The Peace
Distribute the folly among the people of nearness,
Tabulate their weaknesses, scribes are again.
A gain has been committed for the reality,
The worlds of greatness complain so they gain.
To folly we achieve our peace, but the great worlds
Inhibit this folly, for the goodness, for the belly of ache.
Forward they walk, backward they glance,
To act according to the peace and war has been achieved.
poem by Naveed Akram
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oH THE folly of Men
was it said
somewhere else
that Man's folly
is God's
wisdom?
could this be
the same as
Man's wisdom
is God's Folly?
Man is foolish
to love gold
God is wise
to love nothing.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I See A Man
I see a man innocent and far-fetched,
Offering me the deaths of thousands;
I apologise for the inconvenience of my laugh,
Seeing that this great saint is beautiful.
My sights are so glorious for more,
The abnormal request turns into more folly
As he raises his hand to a wall to erase society’s
Beauty, much too bold a great beauty.
May this man be trusted and tolerated
After he swings a fist in the direction of the Sun
And instead hits the boy utterly in the head,
Wearing shoulders and dress of a great day.
My community thinks twice of this old man,
I see him during my life, and I watch the spectacles,
Wondering why? O God! ! Why does he then die?
Let Humanity be successful due to him.
His reason for living is too strong and great,
He prevents the wrong turn of events;
Part of his wise nature is correct,
The rest is proper and distinct.
poem by Naveed Akram
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La Fraisne
For I was a gaunt, grave councillor
Being in all things wise, and very old,
But I have put aside this folly and the cold
That old age weareth for a cloak.
I was quite strong-at least they said so-
The young men at the sword-play;
But I have put aside this folly, being gay
In another fashion that more suiteth me.
I have curled 'mid the boles of the ash wood,
I have hidden my face where the oak
Spread his leaves over me, and the yoke
Of the old ways of men have I cast aside.
By the still pool of Mar-nan-otha
Have I found me a bride
That was a dog-wood tree some syne.
She hath called me from mine old ways
She hath hushed my rancour of council,
Bidding me praise
Naught but the wind that flutters in the leaves.
She hath drawn me from mine old ways,
Till men say that I am mad;
But I have seen the sorrow of men, and am glad,
For I know that the wailing and bitterness are a folly.
And I? I have put aside all folly and all grief.
I wrapped my tears in an ellum leaf
And left them under a stone
And now men call me mad because I have thrown
All folly from me, putting it aside
To leave the old barren ways of men,
Because my bride
Is a pool of the wood, and
Though all men say that I am mad
It is only that I am glad,
Very glad, for my bride hath toward me a great love
That is sweeter than the love of women
That plague and burn and drive one away.
Aie-e! 'Tis true that I am gay
Quite gay, for I have her alone here
And no man troubleth us.
Once when I was among the young men . . .
And they said I was quite strong, among the young men.
Once there was a woman . . .
. . . but I forget . . . she was . .
... I hope she will not come again.
... I do not remember…..
I think she hurt me once, but . . .
That was very long ago.
I do not like to remember things any more.
I like one little band of winds that blow
In the ash trees here:
For we are quite alone
Here 'mid the ash trees.
poem by Ezra Pound
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Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yieldAgainst stupidity the very godsThemselves contend in vain. Exalted reason,Resplendent daughter of the head divine,Wise foundress of the system of the world,Guide of the stars, who are thou then, if thou,Bound to the tail of folly's uncurb'd steed,Must, vainly shrieking, with the drunken crowd,Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss.
'Tis folly to be wise.
quote by Thomas Gray
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He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
quote by La Rochefoucauld
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It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.
quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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Nobody so wise but has a little folly to spare.
He who lives without folly is not so wise as he imagines.
quote by La Rochefoucauld
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Wit is folly unless a wise man hath the keeping of it.
The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
quote by William Blake
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Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.
quote by Thomas Gray
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The man who lives free from folly is not so wise as he thinks.
quote by La Rochefoucauld
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If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
quote by William Blake
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Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.