An old fool is the worst of fools.
Meaning: Inexperience excuses foolishness; years of repeating mistakes demonstrate willful ignorance.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Human Nature
- Better it is to meet a bear bereaved of her whelps, than a fool in his folly. — Confronting a dangerous animal is safer than engaging with someone determined to persist…
- As the fool thinks, so the bell chinks. — A fool's actions produce predictable, hollow results—noise without substance or deeper me…
- Fools set stools for wise folk to stumble at. — Foolish people create obstacles that even intelligent ones may trip over through careless…
- A fool's bolt is soon shot. — Reckless people exhaust their resources or arguments hastily, leaving themselves defensel…
- Fools build houses, and wise men buy them. — Shrewd investors profit from others' labor and mistakes rather than bearing construction…
- Every man is the architect of his fortune. — Individual choices and actions, not circumstance, determine the outcomes and success one…
From our untranslatable words
- Attaccabottoni — The person who corners you and holds you in an endless, tedious story you cannot politely…
- Menefreghista — Someone who has made not caring into an entire stance — indifference as a way of life.
- Apericena — The evening drink whose accompanying buffet is generous enough to replace dinner altogeth…