Proverbs 14:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The wisdom of the prudent— Lord Bacon renders this verse thus: A wise man is wary of his way; a cunning fool seeks evasion. There be two sorts of wisdom, says he; the one true and sound, the other counterfeit and false; which last Solomon hesitates not to call folly. He who applies himself to the former takes heed to his own ways and footings; foreseeing dangers, studying remedies, using the assistance of good men, and fortifying himself against the wicked: wary how he enters upon a business, and not unprepared for a handsome retreat: attentive to advantages, courageous against impediments, with innumerable other things relating to the government of his own ways and actions. But that other kind is made up altogether of fallacies and cunning devices, and relies wholly upon the hopes of circumventing others, and framing them as it lists. This wisdom the parable rejects, not only as wicked, but as foolish; for, first, it is not in the number of things which are in our own power, nor is it directed by any constant rule; but new stratagems must be every day devised, the old failing and growing useless: and, secondly, as soon as a man hath got the name and opinion of a cunning crafty companion, he hath deprived himself utterly of the principal instrument for the management of his affairs; which is, trust; and so he will find, by experience, all things go cross to his desires: for, lastly, these arts and shifts, however they promise fair, and much please such as practise them; yet they are commonly frustrated, and, which is worse, end sadly. "Crafty and audacious counsels (says Tacitus remarkably) are joyful in the expectation, difficult in the management, and sorrowful in the event." See Advancement of Learning, as above.