Meaning & Analysis
A person is rightly called a fool if, while safe and comfortable, they willingly abandon their secure situation and expose themselves to unnecessary risk or hardship.
Insights
Folly of Discontent
The proverb warns against restlessness and dissatisfaction, suggesting that abandoning security or good fortune in pursuit of uncertainty is a hallmark of foolishness.
Risk Versus Prudence
It cautions that wisdom lies in contentment and prudent self-preservation, while reckless pursuit of novelty or danger reflects poor judgment.
Tempting Fate
The saying metaphorically frames unnecessary risk-taking as tempting fate—leaving 'shelter' for the 'storm'—and implies that such actions rarely yield reward.
Historical Symbolism
Medieval and Renaissance sources frequently frame security and shelter as blessings to be cherished, as seen in the citations comparing leaving safety to walking out into the rain or abandoning land for a tempest at sea. The fool’s action is thus seen as an affront to fortune and a disregard for providence.
Cultural Resonance
The motif recurs across cultures and centuries—echoing the wisdom of staying content when well off, as in the xref ‘He is wise that when he is well can hold him so’ and the classical warning not to 'put one’s finger in the fire.' Such sayings reinforce the ideal of measured ambition and self-restraint.
Psychological Insight
Psychologically, the proverb highlights human tendencies toward restlessness and the self-sabotage that can arise from chronic discontent. It implicitly advocates for gratitude and a realistic appraisal of risk versus reward.
Social Consequence
By specifying public censure—'to his face'—the proverb underscores that such folly is socially recognized and invites communal scorn, not just private misfortune.
Rhetorical Devices
Direct Address
The phrase 'called a FOOL to his face' employs direct address, lending the saying force and immediacy, as if pronouncing judgment before the community.
Contrast
It contrasts safety with danger, and wisdom with folly, heightening the sense of irrationality in the fool’s choice.
Metaphor
The use of imagery—quitting shelter for rain, or running to the tempest—enriches the literal warning with vivid metaphor, reinforcing the peril of unnecessary risk.
Antithesis
The proverb’s structure sets up an antithesis between being 'well' and 'quitting one's place,' underlining the folly inherent in rejecting the former for the latter.
Transcription
Quotations
He whiche is in a place wel sure is wel a fole to go fro hit and to putte hym self in grete daunger and perylle.
He is a foole that can nat holde hym selfe content whan he is well at ease.
He is but a foole which runneth to tempest, And might liue on lande in suertie and in rest.
He shall be call'd a Fool to his face, That doing well will quit his place.
He that is well sheltered, is a Fool if he stir out into the Rain.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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