History Quotes / ObfuscatingStupidity

->'''Soyogi''': [[ManChild She's]] coming up? In that case, I'm going down.\\
'''Nagi''': You can't deal with her either, huh?\\
'''Soyogi''': Yeah... especially when she ''[[TricksterMentor pretends]]'' [[TricksterMentor to be a fool]].

->'''Firebrand''': I always thought you were...I mean, the tabloid shows make you sound--\\
'''Phantom Lady''': Stupid? Vacuous? Sometimes I like to play it that way. I can read people better. If you present an image of ditziness, people don't think you realize what they're doing, and they say more than they would if they knew I had a degree in quantum physics...By letting down their guard, it gives me the extra edge over them.

->'''Pollio''': Do you want to live a long and busy life, with honor at the end of it?\\
'''Claudius''': Yes.\\
'''Pollio''': [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetmaster Then exaggerate your limp, stammer deliberately, sham sickness frequently, let your wits wander, jerk your head and twitch with your hands on all public or semi-public occasions. If you could see as much as I see, you would know that this was your only hope of eventual glory.]]

->''"Why don't we stop pretending that I'm brilliant and you're simple for one moment?"

->''Day after day,''\\
''Alone on a hill,''\\
''The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still''\\
''But nobody wants to know him,''\\
''They can see that he's just a fool,''\\
''And he never gives an answer,''\\
''But the fool on the hill''\\
''Sees the sun going down''\\
''And the eyes in his head''\\
''See the world spinning 'round...''

->'''Granny''': Oh, Tortus. I've already had lunch.
->'''Anju''': Grandmother...I am Anju! Tortus was my dad... And you haven't had lunch yet!
->'''Granny''': I've already had lunch. Now be quick and take that away.
->'''Anju''': Not eating is bad for you. Please eat...
->'''Granny''': Didn't I say that I already ate lunch, Tortus?!? Impossible child!
->'''Anju''': Then don't eat my food. I give up...
->'''Granny''': Whew.
->'''Anju''': Whew?
->'''Granny''': Er... W-W-Whewwwould you like me to read you a story?

->'''Tarquin''': Remember, Nale: Who knows that you know is just as important as knowing in in the first place.\\
'''Nale''': But you look like a fool for being ignorant!\\
'''Tarquin''': So what? Better to look the fool than be one.

->'''Agatha''': But she's ''completely useless'' -- at least... she ''seemed'' useless... oh dear.\\
'''Tarvek''': I can't ''believe'' it! The Order has ''obviously'' been planning this for ''years'' -- and you ''completely underestimated'' the girl they groomed to be the ''Heterodyne''?\\
'''Agatha''': You ''obviously'' haven't met her.\\
'''Gil''': ''Oh, yes he HAS!'' Your fake Heterodyne is ''Zola la Sirène Dorée''.\\
'''Tarvek''': What?! No, that was that ''idiot'' from the island of the --\\

'''Tarvek''': She ''is'' good.

-->--'''Finn [=McMissile=]''', ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''

->However... she found that people, including her great-grandmother, tended to unconsciously underestimate her when she played dumb, and Shampoo had a policy of exploiting every advantage she could get.
-->-- '''Shampoo''', ''Fanfic/HeartsOfIce''

->''"I must keep in mind that our Headmaster's 'batty old coot' act ''is'' an act; he's sharp as can be when things attract his attention. Getting too careless around him could be the last mistake I'll ever make."''
-->-- '''[[Franchise/HarryPotter Hermione Granger]]''', ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2439980/1/The_Girl_Nobody_KnowsASoliloquy The Girl Nobody Knows A Soliloquy]]''

->''"I’m not really a dumb blonde, I just perpetuate the image to be less intimidating to others."''

[[folder:Real Life]]
->''"Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark. No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart - and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives."''
-->--'''Robert Greene''', ''The 48 Laws of Power''

->''"It's like these people are programmed by Karl Rove. What he wants is to have liberal critics ridicule [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Bush]] because he says "nucular" and "misunderestimate" and talks with a probably fake Texas accent and so on, because then can come back with the big propaganda apparatus saying, "See, those elite liberals who run the world and are sitting around [[SlobsVersusSnobs drinking French wine and eating quiche]] don't understand us ordinary guys;" regular guys like the guy working on the assembly line and George Bush, who is going [[CallToAgriculture back to his ranch to cut brush]].''"
-->--'''Noam Chomsky''', ''What We Say Goes'' (2007)

->''"To be looked upon as a fool by an idiot is a true connoisseur's delight."''
-->--'''Georges Courteline'''

->''"It takes a smart guy to play dumb."''
-->--'''Creator/MrT'''

->''"[The Spartans] conceal their wisdom, and pretend to be blockheads, so that they may seem to be superior only because of their prowess in battle ... This is how you may know that I am speaking the truth and that the Spartans are the best educated in philosophy and speaking: if you talk to any ordinary Spartan, he seems to be stupid, but eventually, like some expert marksman, he shoots in some brief remark that proves you to be only a child."''
-->--'''Creator/{{Plato}}''', ''Protagoras''

->''"[[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower Eisenhower's]] career demonstrated how it is possible to fool all the people all the time... "I may be stupid," he once said at a press conference, "but at least I'm sincere!" Actually, he was neither, but it suited his purpose to play the part of the bumbling man of good will who was "[[SimpleCountryLawyer not an expert in these matters]]" but somehow would do his best."''
-->--'''Creator/GoreVidal'''

->''"The thing about Colbert is he's fucking brilliant... He was always the smartest guy in the room, and he was always smart enough not to let you know he was the smartest guy in the room."''
-->--'''Scott Wherry''' on long-time friend Creator/StephenColbert
[[/folder]]

->''"No one realizes they're being fooled because they're too busy laughing'' at ''the fool."''
-->--'''Finn [=McMissile=]''', ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''

->''"All warfare is based on deception."''
-->--''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}''

->'''Soyogi''': [[ManChild She's]] coming up? In that case, I'm going down.\\
'''Nagi''': You can't deal with her either, huh?\\
'''Soyogi''': Yeah... especially when she ''[[TricksterMentor pretends]]'' [[TricksterMentor to be a fool]].
-->--''Manga/UmiNoMisaki''

->And I may not look like it, but I do pay attention to things that matter. [...] Don't underestimate me.
-->-- '''Kyon''', ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya''

-->--Barret Wallace, ''WebAnimation/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged''

-->--''ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters|DC}}''

-->-- '''Kyon''', ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''

->''"And [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob that fat pig, Prince Prinny]]! He plays the fool so he may better play the game!"''

-->--'''Robert Greene''', ''48 Laws of Power''