When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

Jonathan Swift

Read Thoughts on Various Subjects at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Genius Being misunderstood

Author

Jonathan Swift

Source

Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

Medium

Essay

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1711 1720s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Occupation

Writer

From

Ireland Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Various Thoughts, Moral and Diverting." Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. 1st ed. London: John Morphew, 1711.

Current Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)." Jonathan Swift: The Essential Writings, edited by Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Jonathan Swift about genius: “When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that…”
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A quote by Jonathan Swift about genius: “When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that…”
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A quote by Jonathan Swift about genius: “When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1720s

The body of
B. Franklin,
Printer;
Like the cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect edition,
Corrected and amended
By the Author.

Benjamin Franklin

Read more about Ben Franklin's epitaph at the National Archives website
More information about this quote
Topic
Afterlife

Author

Benjamin Franklin
Source
Epitaph for Himself
Medium
Epitaph
Statement Type
Epitaph Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1728 1720s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. Epitaph for himself. 1728.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Epitaph." Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body and Early Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Immanuel Kant

More information about this quote
Topic
Imperfection Human nature

Author

Immanuel Kant
Source
Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose
Medium
Essay
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
German
Time
1784 1780s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Citation

Kant, Immanuel. "Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht [Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose]." Berlinische Monatsschrift, Nov. 1784.