another bizarre question

[kaigou]

I'm sure almost all of you have heard the phrase, "better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it" (with the usual web-inflected variations). But the version I came across this afternoon in a translated novel goes like this:

Far better to ask a question and be thought a fool for a moment, than to be silent and remain a fool forever.

The context of the author's use implies that it's some kind of familiar adage, but it's an inversed version that I can't recall ever seeing before. Does anyone else recognize this version? Have any idea where it comes from, or might be able to think of a possible source? Searching the net just got me a bazillion hits on the first phrase (keep-your-mouth-shut) and none that I could see on the second.

I'd just like to be able to attribute it properly whenever I quote it, although I suppose failing any actual attribution I guess I'd just use the novelist's name instead..?

Comments

[surealistic-des.livejournal.com]

hmm...I heard of it too..

I remember going sorry for asking a stupid question...

and the lecturer going: There's no such thing as a stupid question. It only becomes stupid when left unasked...err among those lines anyways.. :D; or in other words, if you don't ask, you won't learn?