a man's folly ought to be his greatest secret
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
One should keep their mistakes or foolish actions private.
Examples
He tried to hide the fact that he had invested in a failing business, remembering that a man's folly ought to be his greatest secret.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “a man's folly ought to be his greatest secret” mean?
One should keep their mistakes or foolish actions private.
Is “a man's folly ought to be his greatest secret” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.