The wise man is wise in vain who cannot be wise to his own advantage.
Nequicquam sapere sapientem, qui ipse sibi prodesse non quiret.
Original text (Latin)
More quotes by Ennius
Whom men fear they hate, and whom they hate, they wish dead.
One man by delay restored the state,
for he preferred the public safety to idle report.
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If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
'The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.'
Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.
Attribution
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ennius (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.