“Don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise.”

— Stephen Colbert, Knox College commencement address (3 June 2006)

About Stephen Colbert

Born 1964

American comedian and television host.

“Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it.”

“Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge.”

“We claim no respectability. There's no status I would not surrender for a joke.”

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes.”

“Strive, and hold cheap the strain; / Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!”

“Young people, who are beginners in everything, cannot yet know love: they have to learn it.”

“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”