2168. 'Tis better for thee to be wise and not seem so, than to seem wise and not be so: Yet Men, for the most Part, desire and endeavor the contrary.

When one is wise, it's wisest to seem foolish.

Do not try to seem wise to others.

Do not try to seem wise to others. If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes.

To make clever people believe we are what we are not is in most instances harder than really to become what we want to seem to be.

The desire to appear clever often prevents one from being so.

Be, rather than seem

To make astute people believe one is what one is not is, in most cases, harder than actually to become what one wishes to appear.

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.

so sweet a thing it is not to be wise, that on the contrary men rather pray against anything than folly.

Better be without sense than misapply it as you do.

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.