Quote by Desiderius Erasmus: “It is the height of wisdom to pretend to be a fool.”

Sometimes the wisest thing you can do is play dumb. The court fool, the satirist, the comedian — they can say things no serious person is allowed to say, precisely because they are not taken seriously. Erasmus turns folly into a strategic advantage.

In Praise of Folly was Erasmus's most popular work and used the persona of Folly herself speaking to expose the pretensions of theologians, princes, and courtiers. The joke was that wisdom was being delivered by the figure of foolishness — exactly the double game the quote describes.

Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and the most celebrated scholar of his age. His works, including In Praise of Folly and his critical edition of the Greek New Testament, combined scholarship with wit and pushed for church reform from within.