suffer fools gladly

present singular third person suffers fools gladly · participle present suffering fools gladly · participle past suffered fools gladly · past suffered fools gladly · alternative gladly suffer fools

1. idiomaticTo be tolerant of stupidity or incompetence in other people.

   For ye ſuffre foles gladly be cauſe that ye youre ſelves are wyſe.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians xj:[19], folio ccxlv, recto

   1 more example

   He [Henry Sweet] was, I believe, not in the least an illnatured man: very much the opposite, I should say; but he would not suffer fools gladly.

   1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion. Preface.”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, page 100