Proverb Quotes - page 6

It has become a sarcastic proverb that a thing must be true if you saw it in a newspaper. That is the opinion intelligent people have of that lying vehicle in a nutshell. But the trouble is that the stupid people–who constitute the grand overwhelming majority of this and all other nations–do believe and are moulded and convinced by what they get out of a newspaper, and there is where the harm lies."... "That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. (Mark Twain)
Variants quoted as an anonymous proverb: Better a herd of sheep led by a lion than a herd of lions led by a sheep. A flock of sheep led by a lion was more powerful than a flock of lions led by a sheep. An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. It were better to have an army of sheep led by a lion than an army of lions led by a sheep. An army of sheep led by a lion, will defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. An army of sheep led by a lion would be superior to an army of lions led by a sheep. Unsourced attribution to Alexander: I would not fear a pack of lions led by a sheep, but I would always fear a flock of sheep led by a lion. View quote
Alexander the Great
How do these super-smart people with all these degrees and higher mathematics end up doing these dumb things? I think it's explainable by the old proverb that to the man with a hammer every problem looks pretty much like a nail. They've learned these techniques and they just twist the problem so it fits the solution - which is not the way to do it. View quote
Charlie Munger