The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

This line is spoken by Touchstone, the court fool, in William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy *As You Like It*. Touchstone delivers it in Act 5, Scene 1, during a conversation in the Forest of Arden with William, a simple country youth who fancies himself fit to court Audrey. As a professional “fool,” Touchstone wields wit as social critique: he punctures pretension and exposes self-deception. The play repeatedly contrasts courtly sophistication with rustic simplicity, and Touchstone’s aphorism functions as a pointed reminder—near the comedy’s end—that genuine wisdom includes self-knowledge and humility rather than self-satisfaction.

The epigram turns on a paradox: ignorance often breeds confidence, while true understanding brings awareness of one’s limits. Shakespeare uses the fool—traditionally licensed to speak truths others cannot—to suggest that wisdom is inseparable from humility and self-scrutiny. The “fool” is not merely unintelligent but self-assured in his judgments; the “wise man” recognizes fallibility and the vastness of what he does not know. In the play’s comic setting, the line also satirizes social posturing and romantic entitlement, implying that self-knowledge is a moral and intellectual discipline, not a status one can simply claim.

1) “The fool thinks he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
2) “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”