Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you.

Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you is widely attributed to Joey Adams, a mid‑20th‑century American comedian and aphorist known for compiling and circulating one‑liners about romance, marriage, and human folly. The line appears to have been popularized in the context of his published collections of quips and in quotation anthologies that drew heavily on his nightclub-style wisecracks. It reflects the postwar era’s appetite for punchy, cautionary humor about dating and emotional self‑protection, delivered in Adams’s characteristic epigrammatic form rather than as part of a longer narrative or speech.

The aphorism warns against two complementary dangers in love: choosing an unworthy partner (“a fool”) and letting the intoxicating power of affection (“a kiss”) override discernment. Its parallel structure turns a moral lesson into a memorable joke: physical intimacy can be both a sign of poor judgment and a cause of it. Adams suggests that desire easily disguises character flaws—either you invite trouble by being intimate with someone foolish, or you become foolish yourself by mistaking passion for proof of value. The line’s staying power comes from its compact, reversible logic and its blend of humor with cautionary advice.