This wonderful saying was created by the great English poet Alexander Pope in 1711, and it means that “fools do not hesitate to go where wiser people fear to walk.”
It is ironic wisdom—partly an insult to fools, but also partly an ironic comment on the positive side of fools. The phrase hints that fools may accomplish more than wise people sometimes, because wise people avoid risks. So it can mean that naive (foolish) people are more daring than wise people.
For example, if we believe it is foolish to buy Bitcoin and we see people investing in Bitcoin, we might say this phrase. Or we might use this phrase to describe the first men who walked on the moon. The phrase can criticize fools, or praise them. If a naive, idealistic person criticizes their government and is arrested, we might use this phrase. Often people say this phrase when a person speaks unwisely—such as by asking an off-limits question of an employer or policeman. Alexander Pope used it to describe his critics. The phrase can be serious, humorous, insulting, or praising!
This idea also agrees with an old European belief that “God favors children, drunks, and fools.” Many people believe that children, drunks, and fools will be protected by God, or by their own innocence. This also points to the meaning of the phrase, “Fortune favors the foolish.”
More Example of the Phrase “Fools Rush in” Used in a Sentence
- Yet, fools rush in without doing their due diligence.
- But before we fools rush in and dismiss his rhetoric, we should remember this guy ventures where angels fear to tread.
- Wise men say only fools rush in.
- Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread, and literary people should take part reluctantly in battles that true film critics have already waged.
- This means boringly sensible advice about fools rushing in may be upheld by social science.
- So everyone thinks the problem is over, and fools rush back in.