It hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem,

It hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem,
and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are; but howsoever it be between
nations, certainly it is so between man and man.
-- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
-- Of Seeming Wise

Related:

• We take cunning for a sinister and crooked wisdom, and certainly there is a great difference between a cunning man and a wise man,
  not only in point of honesty but in point of ability...
• A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
  Francis Bacon, English philosopher (1561...
• The heart is wiser than the
  intellect...
• The heart is wiser than the
  intellect...
• The heart is wiser than the
  intellect...
• A man should never be ashamed to admit he has been in the wrong,
  which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser...
• Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch; Between two dogs,
  which hath the deeper mouth; Between two blades, which...
• Atheism is rather in the life than in the heart of man.
  Sir Francis Bacon (1561...
• Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man.
  How's that again? I missed something. -- Robert A...