Read Proverbs 17:28.  Proverbs doesn't have much good to say about a fool.  But here in this verse it does.  How strange.  There is a story about two brothers who were wicked men.  They stole, sold drug, and lived evil lives.  One of them died and the other brother asked a minister to say some nice words at his brother's funeral.  The minister said that he couldn't find anything nice to say about the dead crook.  The brother told the preacher that he would give him a lot of money to do his brother's funeral with only one condition: the preacher had to call his brother a saint.  The preacher agreed.  At the funeral the pastor began, This man was a crook and a thief and a liar.  But compared to his brother, he was a saint."  Solomon had nothing good to say about a fool except: when a fool holds his tongue, people think he is wise.  He really isn't wise.  It is just that if the fool doesn't open his mouth, he won't say anything foolish.  And if he doesn't say anything foolish, others think he is wise.  Do you remember the poem that I used in Proverbs 15:13?  Here it is again:

A wise old owl sat in an oak
The more he heard the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can't we be like that wise old bird.

Think before you speak. Everyone will think you are wise.