Folly
noun
Lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight.
It is sheer folly to believe you can get rich quick.
Often appears as...
- act of folly
- sheer folly
noun
A foolish act or idea.
His latest business idea is seen as a folly by many.
Often appears as...
- commit a folly
- avoid the folly
noun
A costly ornamental building with no practical purpose.
He built a gothic folly in the garden of his estate.
Often appears as...
- build a folly
- admire the folly
noun
Lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight.
It is sheer folly to believe you can get rich quick.
Often appears as...
- act of folly
- sheer folly
noun
A foolish act or idea.
His latest business idea is seen as a folly by many.
Often appears as...
- commit a folly
- avoid the folly
noun
A costly ornamental building with no practical purpose.
He built a gothic folly in the garden of his estate.
Often appears as...
- build a folly
- admire the folly
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
The word 'folly' often implies a negative judgment or disapproval of the action or belief.
Ignoring her advice was pure folly.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Serious
'Folly' can be used for minor mistakes as well as serious errors in judgment.
Missing the meeting due to oversleeping was a small folly.
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Term
What one person sees as 'folly' might be considered reasonable by someone else.
Some saw her solo travel as folly; others admired it.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
The word 'folly' often implies a negative judgment or disapproval of the action or belief.
Ignoring her advice was pure folly.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Serious
'Folly' can be used for minor mistakes as well as serious errors in judgment.
Missing the meeting due to oversleeping was a small folly.
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Term
What one person sees as 'folly' might be considered reasonable by someone else.
Some saw her solo travel as folly; others admired it.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
The word 'folly' often implies a negative judgment or disapproval of the action or belief.
Ignoring her advice was pure folly.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Serious
'Folly' can be used for minor mistakes as well as serious errors in judgment.
Missing the meeting due to oversleeping was a small folly.
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Term
What one person sees as 'folly' might be considered reasonable by someone else.
Some saw her solo travel as folly; others admired it.
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Video examples
Why we need the...
suspended in a sunbeam. It's been said that astronomy's a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility
Video examples
Meklit Hadero: The...
And there are a million reasons to fall in love with this its depth of poetics, its double entendres, its wax and gold, its humor, its proverbs that illuminate the wisdom and follies of life. But there's also this melodicism, a musicality built right in.
Video examples
Why are we happy? Why...
but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice, or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly,
Video examples
The surprising science...
pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice or to corrupt the future tranquillity of our minds either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly or by remorse for the horror of
Video examples
What it takes to make...
What if each of us gave more to the world than we took from it? Everything would change. Now cynics might say that sounds too idealistic, but cynics don't create the future. And though I've learned the folly of unbridled optimism,
Video examples
Being Joseph Pulitzer PIPE...
his mommy to love him I think he'll be remembered as a man with ambition but ambition not tempered with a vision for people or for truth but ambition solely for oneself this is the folly of many many men and had it not been for
Video examples
Why do we love? A...
so that we can reach Nirvana, an enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion. The novelist Cao Xueqin illustrated this Buddhist sentiment that romantic love is folly in one of China's greatest classical novels,
Video examples
Is Humanity Smart Enough...
it's folly, It's ignorance, it's superstition. Suppose it was intuition. Suppose it was the only way we could talk about what we knew, a fundamental, deep truth that this is not the last word. This is not the end of the story.
Video examples
We need to green the...
world and it's getting worse but we also know economically that the solution to climate change is a driver of economic growth and a driver of jobs so so it would be real folly now to ignore the science of risk and to take
Video examples
The tyranny of merit PIPE...
So it is folly to create an economy that makes a university diploma a necessary condition of dignified work and a decent life. Encouraging people to go to college is a good thing.
Video examples
Why we need the...
suspended in a sunbeam. It's been said that astronomy's a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility
Video examples
Meklit Hadero: The...
And there are a million reasons to fall in love with this its depth of poetics, its double entendres, its wax and gold, its humor, its proverbs that illuminate the wisdom and follies of life. But there's also this melodicism, a musicality built right in.
Video examples
Why are we happy? Why...
but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice, or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly,
Video examples
The surprising science...
pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice or to corrupt the future tranquillity of our minds either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly or by remorse for the horror of
Video examples
What it takes to make...
What if each of us gave more to the world than we took from it? Everything would change. Now cynics might say that sounds too idealistic, but cynics don't create the future. And though I've learned the folly of unbridled optimism,
Video examples
Being Joseph Pulitzer PIPE...
his mommy to love him I think he'll be remembered as a man with ambition but ambition not tempered with a vision for people or for truth but ambition solely for oneself this is the folly of many many men and had it not been for
Video examples
Why do we love? A...
so that we can reach Nirvana, an enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion. The novelist Cao Xueqin illustrated this Buddhist sentiment that romantic love is folly in one of China's greatest classical novels,
Video examples
Is Humanity Smart Enough...
it's folly, It's ignorance, it's superstition. Suppose it was intuition. Suppose it was the only way we could talk about what we knew, a fundamental, deep truth that this is not the last word. This is not the end of the story.
Video examples
We need to green the...
world and it's getting worse but we also know economically that the solution to climate change is a driver of economic growth and a driver of jobs so so it would be real folly now to ignore the science of risk and to take
Video examples
The tyranny of merit PIPE...
So it is folly to create an economy that makes a university diploma a necessary condition of dignified work and a decent life. Encouraging people to go to college is a good thing.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
Quote examples
Winston Churchill
British Statesman
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Quote examples
Isaac Asimov
American Scientist
Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
Quote examples
H. L. Mencken
American Writer
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
Quote examples
James A. Garfield
American President
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.
Quote examples
George Eliot
British Author
In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.
Quote examples
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
French Writer
It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.
Quote examples
Samuel Johnson
English Writer
Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.
Quote examples
William Blake
English Poet
The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
Quote examples
Winston Churchill
British Statesman
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Quote examples
Isaac Asimov
American Scientist
Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
Quote examples
H. L. Mencken
American Writer
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
Quote examples
James A. Garfield
American President
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.
Quote examples
George Eliot
British Author
In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.
Quote examples
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
French Writer
It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.
Quote examples
Samuel Johnson
English Writer
Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.
Quote examples
William Blake
English Poet
The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Example 1 of 10
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