fool see also CHILDREN and fools tell the truth; FORTUNE favours fools; a man who is
his own LAWYER has a fool for his client; MORE people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool
knows; SIX hours’ sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool; YOUNG folks
think old folks to be fools, but old folks know young folks to be fools; also FOOLS.
foolish see PENNY wise and pound foolish.FOOLS and bairns should never see half-done workThey may mistakenly judge the quality of the finished article from its awkwardness while
it is being produced.
1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 108 Fools should not see half done Work. Many
fine Pieces of Work will look.. aukward when it is a doing. 1818 SCOTT Letter Dec.
(1933) V. 265 ‘Bairns and fools’.. according to our old canny proverb should never see
half done work. 1913 A. & J. LANG Highways & Byways in Border ix. To the lay eye
improvement is yet barely perceptible. ‘Fools and bairns’, however, they tell us, ‘should
never see half-done work.’ 1934 V. MACCLURE Death on Set ii. He has never really
liked anybody seeing the roughs except the technical staff. Said it gave the players ideas
they were better without. ‘Fools and children, and unfinished work,’ you know. fools;
workFOOLS ask questions that wise men cannot answer1666 G. TORRIANO Italian Proverbs 249 One fool may ask more than seven wise
men can answer. 1738 SWIFT Polite Conversation ii. 156 ‘Miss, can you tell which is the
white Goose?’.. ‘They say, a Fool will ask more Questions than the wisest body can
answer.’ 1821 SCOTT Pirate II. v. Bryce Snaelsfoot is a cautious man. .. He knows a fool
may ask more questions than a wise man cares to answer. 1871 J. S. JONES Life of J. S.
Batkins liv. Bean appeared always to be fond of Amanda. .. I asked him one day. .. He
looked at me, and said, ‘Batkins, fools ask questions that wise men cannot answer.’ 1973
Amarillo Globe-Times 27 Mar. 20/1 We are well acquainted with the old adage that fools
can ask questions which wise men cannot answer. Yet we would pose the question simply
—‘Why?’ Why do young Americans use heroin? fools; wisdomFOOLS build houses and wise men live in them