Careful Words

foolish (adj.)

How now, foolish rheum!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iv. Sc. 1.

Here lies our sovereign lord the king,

Whose word no man relies on;

He never says a foolish thing,

Nor ever does a wise one.

Earl Of Rochester (1647-1680): Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II.

  God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians i. 27.

Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667): Virgil, Georgics. Book ii. Line 72.