"Great Wits are sure to Madness near ally'd;
And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide"
Could anyone possibly tell me what these two sentences (by Dryden) mean? Thank you vey much.
2006-08-19 10:08:17 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
Many thanks to both of you, dark_phoenix_will_rise_again and gemthewitch!
2006-08-19 19:43:13 · update #1
He's saying that great cleverness or intelligence is closely connected to madness or insanity.
2006-08-19 10:13:45 · answer #1 · answered by dark_phoenix 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first sentence means that the smartest people, the geniuses of the world (great wits), are almost always slightly eccentric (to madness near ally'd) or at least seen by the rest of the world as such. The second means that the dividing line between genius and insanity is always thin.
Example: John Russell Nash is an American mathematician, who has won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He's also a paranoid schizophrenic. The movie "A Beautiful Mind" is based on his life.
2006-08-19 10:22:49 · answer #2 · answered by gemthewitch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋