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One possibility: “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.”
Edited by foxley
Thank you, but that's not it either. I read that one a couple weeks back, and also that's not the quote.
“If there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it, Making it momentary as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!' The jaws of darkness do devour it up; So quick bright things come to confusion.” - William Shakespeare
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595-6) act 1, sc. 1, l. 141
Thanks, but not that either. To be clear: The quote specifically says that smart people can come up with justifications for bad choices, though not in those exact words.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro
Okay, I finally found it during my third read-through of the Complete Works. Here's the line, spoken by Maria:
Folly in fools bears not so strong a note
As foolery in the wise, when wit doth dote;
Since all the power thereof it doth apply
To prove, by wit, worth in simplicity.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro
There's this Shakespeare quote I'm trying to find. It's about how smart people make dumb decisions because they use their intelligence to rationalize the dumb decisions. I know the play isn't Hamlet or The Tempest, and not Henry IV, V or VI. It's also not Richard III. Nor is it Troilus & Cressida or The Two Noble Kinsmen. It's not Double Falsehood.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro