Napoleon thinks that I am a fool, but he who laughs last laughs longest.

-Alexander I
  Letter to his sister, 8 Oct.

   There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
  Essays, no.12,'Of Boldness'.

  'Some people', Miss R. said,'run to conceits or wisdom but I hold to the hard, brown, nutlike word. I might point out that there is enough aesthetic excitement here to satisfy anyone but a damned fool.'

-Barthelme, Donald
  Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural  Acts,'The Indian Uprising'.

   What things have we seen, Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been So nimble, and so full of subtil flame, As if that every one from whence they came, Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, And had resolv'd to live a fool, the rest Of his dull life.

-Beaumont, Francis
  Letter to Ben Jonson, verses prefacing  Jonson's Volpone.

Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Samuel 26:21.

The fool hath said in his heart,There is no God.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms14:1.

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 26:11.

A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 29:11.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: this also is vanity.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes 7:6.

But I say unto you,That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say,Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 5:22.

I care not whether a man isgood or evil; all that I care Is whether he is a wise man or a fool.Go! put off Holiness, And put on intellect, or my thunderous hammer shall drive thee, To wrath which thou condemnest, till thou obey my voice.

-Blake,William
c.1804^1807  Jerusalem, plate 91.

For though when he was here, he was Fool in every man's mouth, yet now he isgone he is highly commended of all.

-Bunyan,John
  The Pilgrim's Progress, pt.2.

But here our authors make a doubt Whether he were more wise or stout. Some hold the one and some the other; But howsoe'er they make a pother, The difference was so small his brain Outweighed his rage but half a grain; Which made some take him for a tool That knaves do work with, called a fool.

-Butler, Samuel
  Hudibras, pt.1, canto1, l.29^36.

When all philosophies shall fail, This word alone shall fit; That a sage feels too small for life, And a fool too large for it.

-Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)
Ballad of the White Horse, bk.8.

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

-Colton, Charles Caleb
  Lacon, vol.1, no.322.

To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task.

-Congreve,William
  Sir Sampson to  Angelica. Love for Love, act 5, sc.2.

To please a fool is some degree of folly.

-Congreve,William
  The Way of the World, act 2, sc.6.

Take away that fool's baubleöthe Mace.

-Cromwell, Oliver
  On dismissing the Rump Parliament, 20  Apr.

Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains, call on us? Must to thy motions lovers'seasons run? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late schoolboys, and sour prentices, Go tell court-huntsmen that the King will ride, Call countryants to harvest offices; Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

-Donne,John
c.1595^1605  'The Sun Rising', collected in Songs and Sonnets (1633).

Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.

-Dryden,John
Absalom and  Achitophel, pt.1, l.968.