The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom means that being wise is about being afraid of the right things.
This is a fact of such broad applicability that it’s impossible to know what else to say about it. It applies in every possible area of life. There are always things to be afraid of, there is nothing that doesn’t come with an attendant risk. There is nothing worth having or doing that couldnt go wrong and doesn’t carry some cost. The great skill, the differentiator of wisdom, is knowing which things are the right things to be afraid of. Such knowledge requires a much deeper understanding of the fundamental structure of life and value and the effects of time and action than many people possess. The idea of the fool is the idea of someone who doesn’t realize what dangers he is actually confronting and should be worried about.
Making Nobody Happy 