The terser form of this saying—fools build and wise men buy—can be applied to property
other than houses (see quot. 1997).
1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 91 Fools build houses, and wise men buy them. 1721
J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 110 Fools Big [build] Houses and wise Men buy them. I
knew a Gentleman buy 2000 1. worth of Land, build a House upon it, and sell both House
and Land to pay the Expences of his building. 1875 A. B. CHEALES Proverbial Folk-
Lore 43 Fools build houses, and wise men live in them is another proverb on this subject;
it is partly true. 1911 W. F. BUTLER Autobiography xix. The adage says that fools build
houses for other men to live in. Certainly the men who build the big house of Empire for
England usually get the attic.. for their own lodgment. 1934 J. ALEXANDER Murder at
Eclipse III. ii. 86 On his retirement, the first baron did not build himself a palace such as
he could well have afforded. Perhaps he remembered the old adage that ‘fools build and
wise men buy.’ 1997 Country Life 14 Aug. 28 Arthur Ransome, self-mocking, said of
boating folk: ‘Fools build and wise men buy.’ There is a similar put-down of people who
breed their own horses fools; homeFOOLS for luckThe construction is apparent from quot. 1834. FORTUNE favours fools expresses the same
idea. Quot. 1981 appears to be a garbled version of this saying. Cf. 1631 JONSON
Bartholomew Fair II. ii. Bring him a sixe penny bottle of Ale; they say, a fooles handsell [gift]
is lucky.
1834 Narrative of Life of David Crockett xiii. The old saying—’A fool for luck, and
a poor man for children.’ 1854 J. B. JONES Life of Country Merchant xix. They attribute
your good fortune to the old hackneyed adage, ‘A fool for luck’. 1907 D. H. LAWRENCE
Phoenix II (1968) 6 ‘You’ll make our fortunes.’ ‘What!’ he exclaimed, ‘by making a fool
of myself? They say fools for luck. What fools wise folks must be.’ 1981 T. BARLING
Bikini Red North xi. All fools are lucky; isn’t that the adage? fools; luckFOOLS rush in where angels fear to tread1711 POPE Essay on Criticism 1. 625 No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr’d,
Nor is Paul’s Church more safe than Paul’s Church-yard: Nay, fly to Altars; there they’ll
talk you dead; For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. 1858 G. J. MCREE Iredell’s
Life & Correspondence II. 277 Rash presumption illustrates the line, ‘Fools rush in where
angels fear to tread’. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 649 Prying into his private affairs on the fools
step in where angels principle. 1943 H. MCCLOY Do not Disturb ii. The folly of the
officious is proverbial: don’t rush in where angels fear to tread. 1975 ‘C. AIRD’ Slight