Are the Elves Foolish?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Maybe you should better specify your question, then. I believe that if an Elf "answers both no and yes", he does that for a good reason. Those who are all hurry into doing or not doing something would I consider "foolish", but to them the "proverb" does not apply. For example (sorry to all Fëanor-fans) Fëanor could be considered "foolish" in his furious "revolution". And here I think is a good example: if an elf asked his friend whether he should or should not join Fëanor's campagin, a "wise" elf could say both no and yes like this: "Well, you see, you're probably going to suffer and maybe even cause trouble to others and in the end you won't reach your goal. However, I'm not saying that the campaign will be totally useless, because the Noldor could help the other inhabitants of Middle-Earth and protect them from the Enemy." A "non-wise" elf will then be all rallying for Fëanor or judging the whole campaign as totally useless. Neither of these two possibilities, as we know from the story, can be with clean conscience marked to be true.