The Fool: a collection

of quotations!

I’ve been doing the tedious work of indexing (literally using index cards because I’m old-fashioned) all the quotes I’ve pulled for over the years. It might take me forever, because it’s not just a matter of going through journals, but also the margins of all my paperbacks, as I draw cards while I read. So, this is by nature an incomplete project, but I did want to begin to share some with you. Pulling cards for poetry, book passages, quotations: this is the way I’ve learned the most about the Tarot. This is how the cards have told me who they are. Over time, across many authors, cohesive themes emerge, and the stories of these archetypes continue to grow.

So I thought I’d start with the Fool, because I have a fair amount of quotations gathered for this card already, and of course, it’s a natural beginning. I’ve made some commentary in italics.

I have never met a truly compassionate or loving human being who did not have a foundational and even deep trust in the inherent goodness of human nature. –Richard Rohr

I really like this one because of the Fool’s association with ‘the leap’, with risk taking. Sometimes the Fool feels deeply unconcerned with other people (in fact I’ve drawn it for ‘other people’s opinions of me are none of my business’), and while the Fool doesn’t let other’s expectations and opinions hold them back, they must necessarily believe in the ‘inherent goodness of human nature’ in order to leap. In their hearts, they know there’s not a void awaiting them, but a safety net that’s made of human connection and relationships. And it may be strangers creating that net for them, yes; the Fool knows that strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. The Fool can take bold risks because they know that people are essentially good and willing to help and hold and heal one another.

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished: that will be the beginning. –Louis L’Amour

This quote highlights the connection between 10 of Swords and the Fool, which pair up often in readings. We humans do the same things over and over again, expecting different results each time–Einstein’s definition of insanity, and a great description of 10 of Swords. When we finally accept ‘defeat’ and realize that we must change our approach, that’s the shift from 10 of Sword’s into Fool energy. We could say the same about Page of Swords, too, as representing this moment of scooping ourselves up off the floor, gathering our imaginations, and being willing to try something new.

Photo by Jo Leonhardt on Unsplash

They must change often, who would be constant in happiness. –Confucius

I love the Fool as adaptation and improvisation. The Fool with their little bag is willing to travel lightly, to keep themselves nimble so that they can pursue joy.

Live as though life was created for you. –Maya Angelou

[a card to represent ] the play of becoming –Laura Jean Truman

My child was right on the precipice of tumbling into his greatness as an adult human. (Ghost Ship article)

‘On the precipice of tumbling into greatness’. I love that for the Fool. The Fool and the Pages really do often depict young people who are at those sort of defining moments of their lives, about to leap into the next phase. But, these cards belong to us regardless of our age. We are all engaged in the ‘play of becoming’—or we can be. We can also be rigid and inflexible and grumpy–and that would be a good interpretation of the reversal of the Fool and the Pages: an unnecessary seriousness, a rejection of play.

Strictly speaking, the past and the future do not exist. They are both, to a greater or lesser degree, creations of the imagination. –Christian Wiman

The job of the artist is to replenish imagination. –Alok Vaid-Menon

Questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined. –Walter Brueggemann

I don’t know about you, but my reflexive response to the Fool is always: HOW? I feel like this card invites me into big ideas and dreams, which I immediately shut down with ‘questions of implementation’. Logistics! They’re impossible! But Brueggemann and the Fool say: that doesn’t matter at all. That’s not the point at this stage. Let the vision grow in the imagination. That is the first and most important step.

(Fool reversed) The opposite of faith is not doubt; the opposite of faith is control. –Richard Rohr

The great paradox is that it is in letting go, we receive, We find safety in unexpected places of risk. –Henri Nouwen

The most common one-liner in the Bible is “Do not be afraid.” In fact, someone counted and found that it occurs 365 times. –Richard Rohr

I will always have fears, but I need not be my fears, for I have other places within myself from which to speak and act. –Parker J Pamer

Hope can take on a life of its own. –Michelle Obama

This life is a gift. –my journal

God, I will ask great things of you. –my journal

Here’s a little one card pull inspired by the Brueggemann quote:

What does the Fool invite me to nourish in my imagination, not worrying at all right now about ‘implementation’?