Jonathan Swift — "The only difference between a wise man and a fool is, that the wise man knows hi…"
The only difference between a wise man and a fool is, that the wise man knows himself to be a fool, and the fool knows himself to be wise.
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More from Jonathan Swift
"A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle."
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not."
"I have always held the principle that a nation should be governed by laws, and not by the caprice of a monarch."
"I could wish that some of our young divines would not think it beneath them to consult the most celebrated plays and romances, as well as the most approved poets and orators."
"'Tis an old maxim in the schools, That flattery's the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit. Will condescend to take a bit."
About Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Anglo-Irish satirist and Dean of Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral whose Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729) are the canonical English-language satires. Closely associated with Alexander Pope (Scriblerus Club poet and collaborator) and John Gay (Beggar's Opera author and satirical contemporary). For an intellectual contrast, see Daniel Defoe, English Whig journalist and Robinson Crusoe author (1660-1731) — Defoe's Crusoe (1719) celebrates Enlightenment self-reliance and the colonial-mercantile project; Swift's Gulliver (1726) systematically dismantles every form of human pretension Defoe celebrated. The cleanest Augustan Whig-vs-Tory literary pairing — optimistic-empirical vs misanthropic-satirical.