young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. (16th century)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Youth often underestimate the wisdom of age, while age recognizes the inexperience of youth
Examples
The saying 'young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so' still holds true today
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 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. (16th century)” mean?
Youth often underestimate the wisdom of age, while age recognizes the inexperience of youth
Is “young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. (16th century)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.