A Good Jester Is a Leader of Men.

Jesters have played a brilliant role in society since the 13th Century.

They are the only ones who would be able to criticise a king through their foolery and comedy and get away with it.
A good jester was much in demand.
He wore colorful clothing, bells, feathers, did magic, acrobatics, sang, played music, performed plays. (kinda like from the ant and grasshopper story).

They were witty in displaying themselves as fools but in reality were not fools at all.

Todays comedians replace jesters.
We never think of them as jesters, just normal people who do very well criticising what they see wrong with society and themselves.

Some well known jesters are Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton,Laurel and Hardy,Mr Bean, French Mime Marcel Marceau,Russian Clown Slava Polunin.

Famous Quotes on Jesters:

Always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.
- William Shakespeare in 'As You Like It'

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) in 'Self-Reliance'

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.
- Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845)

The point of living and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come.
- Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
- Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) in 'A Tale of Two Cities'

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
- Hunter S. Thompson (1939)

Foolish writers and readers are created for each other.
- Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)

Perhaps we are wiser, less foolish and more far-seeing than we were two hundred years ago. But we are still imperfect in all these things, and since the turn of the century it has been remarked that neither wisdom nor virtue have increased as rapidly as the need for both.
- Joseph Wood Krutch (1893 - 1970)

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
- Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD



Picture 1: Jesters on The Betley Window

Picture 2: A jester by Picasso: Harlequin seated in a cafe

Picture 3: Another jester from Picasso: The head of Harlequin


Picture 4: Bohóc (Jester) by Egry

In Tarot cards, the Fool plays a special role as being a card that looks for deeper meaning, inner wisdom, philosophy dealing in the creation of God. It gets into the shadows of a persons personality constantly seeking the truth to unfold itself.

It is no wonder Jesters were often taken as confidants of Princes and Kings. Who knew Kings made decisions based on a jesters views.