Roger L'Estrange

“ A Vain Fool can hardly be more Miserable then the Granting of his own Prayers and Wishes would make him. How many Spectacles does every Day afford us, of Apes and Mountebanks in Gay-Coats, that pass in the World for Philosophers, and Men of Honour; and it is no wonder for one Fool to value himself upon the same Vanity, for which he esteems another. ”

“ He that Judges of Men and of things by Sense, Governs himself by Sense too; and he that well considers the Practices and Opinions of the Age he lives in, will find, that Folly and Passion have more Disciples then Wisdom and Vertue. ”

“ The Feather in a Fools Cap, is a Fools Inclination; nay, it is his Ambition too; for he that measures the Character of another Man by his Outside, seldom looks further then the Busness of Dress and Appearance in himself Beside, that Ill Examples work more upon us then Good, and that we are Forwarder to imitate the one, then to Emulate the other. ”