Jonathan Swift — "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the…"
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
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More from Jonathan Swift
"The more years increase, the more does my hatred of human nature increase."
"I have been for some years past, working upon a great work, which I intend to publish, and it is a complete refutation of all that hath ever been written upon the subject of government."
"The greatest ornament of an eminent character is humility."
"Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it."
"I am not fond of arguments, because they are generally productive of more heat than light."
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.