This German proverb begs the question as to what exactly the wise should learn from fools. Perhaps, for starters, how not to appear too wise, thereby alienating or annoying those who might benefit from your wisdom. And wrap your wisdom in a joke so that it flies through people’s defences, hits home and sticks, because it’s easier to remember something funny than something wise?
Anything else?
The wise would do well to learn from fools.
Der wys mag von dem torechen leeren!
Rabelais also cites a proverb which suggests that the wise would do well to seek out fools.
Source: German proverb
Image credit: photo of Arthur Pruce (1909), who on the merits of his astonishing performance at Builth was selected as Jester for the ‘Pageant of Empire’, by P. B. Abery & Wallace Jones
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