Le jeune sage et le vieux fou (The Wise Young Man and the Old Fool) is an opera by the French composer Étienne Méhul with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman.

It takes the form of a comédie mêlée de musique (a type of opéra comique) in one act.

A review in the Chronique de Paris of 1 April described the music as "by turns original, witty and romantic.

[3] The overture musically depicts the two main characters: unaccompanied flutes represent the wise young man and cellos, trombones and basses the old fool.

Cliton thinks marriage will make Merval more responsible and urges him to take the young and sensible Rose as his wife while Cliton himself plans to marry Rose's aunt, the prudish Élise.