Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Cultural  

1. A line from the play A Midsummer Night's Dream , by William Shakespeare. A mischievous fairy, Puck, addressing his king, is commenting on the folly of the human beings who have come into his forest.

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Example Sentences

At the end of the “Midsummer,” the only truly interesting character is the jester/sprite Puck who neatly sums up the play in Act 3: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

From Seattle Times

While it has little to do with politics, it seems perfectly fitting for our current election scene: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

From The Wall Street Journal

I would like to believe that Mr. Dumont is not a nihilistic know-it-all thumbing his nose and crowing, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

From New York Times

If I might quote Puck, from the Bard's timely A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

From BBC

But, though we have nothing of the reformer in our composition; though we are for the most part only too frankly content to take the world as we find it; though, even in their faith, our fellow-Christians make us murmur, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” though we most love to write of Vanity Fair, yet at the bottom of our heart we do desire a better country, and confess sometimes with our mouth that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

From Project Gutenberg