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Follies Quotes

Wise lines on human folly and forgivable mistakes.

These follies quotes take a forgiving view of human weakness, with one speaker calling mutual pardon for our follies the first law of nature. Another argues that every person's follies are often the most interesting thing about them.

What is public history but a register of the successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies and the quarrels of those who engage in contention for power.

Quotes by William S. Paley

We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.

Voltaire

Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.

Quotes by Moliere

Every man has his follies - and often they are the most interesting thing he has got.

Quotes by Josh Billings

Action Quotes

We should begin to remind people they are always after your money and if you are on something around average earnings you really don't have that spare capacity to pay for all these follies that Labour keep spending their money...

Quotes by John Redwood

It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one.

Quotes by Jerome K. Jerome

The follies which a man regrets the most in his life are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.

Quotes by Helen Rowland

How many of us have been attracted to reason; first learned to think, to draw conclusions, to extract a moral from the follies of life, by some dazzling aphorism.

Quotes by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.

Quotes by Bernard Baruch

Always Quotes

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

Quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

Frequently Asked Questions

What perspective do these follies quotes generally share?
Most take a forgiving view of human weakness, treating follies as an unavoidable part of life rather than something to be ashamed of. That gentle framing runs through nearly every quote on the page.
Is there a quote about forgiving other people's mistakes?
Yes, one calls mutual pardon for our follies the first law of nature, suggesting forgiveness is as natural as the mistakes themselves. It sets a compassionate tone for the rest of the collection.
Do any quotes argue that follies make a person interesting?
One does, claiming that a person's follies are often the most interesting thing about them. It flips the usual embarrassment around mistakes into something closer to charm.
Is there a sharper, more critical take on folly here?
Yes, one line argues that wanting to fix the entire world is itself the greatest folly of all, a pointed jab at overreaching ambition. It adds a skeptical counterweight to the page's otherwise forgiving tone.
Why do people search for follies quotes?
Readers often want language that reframes past mistakes with humor or humility rather than regret, and this collection is built around exactly that. See our better quotes for more on growth and self-improvement.

A sharper line calls wanting to fix the whole world the greatest folly of all. See our action and better quotes for more on ambition and its limits.