Mingle a little folly with your wisdom; a little nonsense now and then is pleasant.

The small amount of foolery wise men have makes a great show.

There's plenty of sense in nonsense sometimes, if you wish to look for it.

There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.

The wisest man would be the one richest in contradictions, who has, as it were, antennae for all types of men — -as well as his great moments of grand harmony — -a rare accident even in us! A sort of planetary motion — -

A wise man can say a foolish thing at any time, anywhere, and to anybody.

Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.

Mingle a dash of folly with your wisdom.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

Why do we love nonsense? Why do we love Lewis Carroll with his “‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe, all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe…”? Why is it that all those old English songs are full of “Fal-de-riddle-eye-do” and “Hey-nonny-nonny” and all those babbling choruses? Why is it that when we get “hep” with jazz we just go “Boody-boody-boop-de-boo” and so on, and enjoy ourselves swinging with it? It is this participation in the essential glorious nonsense that is at the heart of the world, not necessarily going anywhere. It seems that only in moments of unusual insight and illumination that we get the point of this, and find that the true meaning of life is no meaning, that its purpose is no purpose, and that its sense is non-sense. Still, we want to use the word “significant.” Is this significant nonsense? Is this a kind of nonsense that is not just chaos, that is not just blathering balderdash, but rather has in it rhythm, fascinating complexity, and a kind of artistry? It is in this kind of meaninglessness that we come to the profoundest meaning.