That's what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he's wise.
Source: Mrs. Poyser, in Adam Bede, bk. 6, ch. 53, 1859.
-- George Eliot, (Nov 22 1819-1880), English novelist; Mary Ann Evans was the foremost woman novelist of her time, e.g., Silas Marner, 1861.