Jonathan Swift Quotes About Genius
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Ah, a German and a genius ! A prodigy, admit him !
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Every age might perhaps produce one or two geniuses, if they were not sunk under the censure and obloquy of plodding, servile, imitating pedants.
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Brutes find out where their talents lie; A bear will not attempt to fly, A foundered horse will oft debate Before he tries a five barred gate. A dog by instinct turns aside Who sees the ditch too deep and wide, But man we find the only creature Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when she loudly cries-Forbear! With obstinacy fixes there; And where the genius least inclines, Absurdly bends his whole designs.
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The most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, mathematics, and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study.
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There never appear more than five or six men of genius in an age, but if they were united the world could not stand before them.
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When a man of genius appears in the world, it is immediately recognized by the fact that all the blockheads join forces against him.
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When a real genius appeares in this world, you'll know him by the fact that all the fools have allied against him.
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If the men of wit and genius would resolve never to complain in their works of critics and detractors, the next age would not know that they ever had any.
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When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
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