Dostoevsky’s wisdom: the clever call themselves fools

The Story in Brief

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky's observation that “the cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month” has resurfaced as a viral quote, Livemint reports. The line, from his 1873 short story Bobok, endures because it challenges the idea that intelligence means never being wrong. Dostoevsky suggests wisdom lies in intellectual humility: acknowledging one's own mistakes creates room for learning, while certainty traps knowledge inside ego.

The quote resonates in an age of confident public opinion, from boardrooms to social media. Dostoevsky, who survived a mock execution and Siberian exile, repeatedly explored how pride and self-deception corrupt reason. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's arrogance leads him to rationalise murder, only to be undone by psychological guilt. The danger, as Livemint notes, is not intelligence itself but certainty detached from self-examination.