Quote of the Day: William Shakespeare on Wit & Attitude

Notice Shakespeare’s choice of the word “knows.” Not “admits,” not “wonders,” not “suspects”, knows. It’s a verb with weight, suggesting clarity earned through experience, not a performance of modesty. That single word turns humility from a social posture into a practiced skill: “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

The fool’s problem isn’t lack of intelligence, it’s misplaced certainty. When you “think yourself wise,” you stop asking better questions. You defend your first draft of reality like it’s final, and every disagreement feels like an attack. That’s how errors fossilize into identity: not because you’re incapable of learning, but because you’ve decided you’re done.

The wise person’s advantage is not perfection; it’s awareness. To “know yourself to be a fool” is to remember how much you can’t see from your current angle, how easily bias, ego, and momentum can steer you. This mindset creates leadership: you invite feedback early, you change your mind faster, and you build decisions that can survive new information. It also fuels resilience, because being wrong stops being a verdict and becomes data.

William Shakespeare earned his authority by mapping human nature with rare precision, across tragedies, comedies, and histories that still diagnose pride, fear, and self-deception better than most modern commentary. His lines endure because they keep proving true in boardrooms, classrooms, and kitchens alike.

Today, do one small thing: choose one opinion you’ve been stating with confidence, and write down the strongest argument against it, then ask someone thoughtful what you’re missing. Let your certainty loosen just enough for wisdom to enter, and may your humility make you unstoppable.