natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Ignorance is bad, but foolishness from those who should know better is worse
Examples
The politician's reckless decision was a case of natural folly, but the advisor's justification of it was learned folly
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 “natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable” mean?
Ignorance is bad, but foolishness from those who should know better is worse
Is “natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.