No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Great souls often have some madness mixed in.
- In plain terms
- Excellent people sometimes show signs of madness.
- What can you take from it?
- Tolerate eccentricity in great people.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does genius need madness?
- How do you spot balance?
Another view
Madness can be harmful rather than linked to excellence.
More from Aristotle
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
Permalink to quote #120 No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.
Permalink to quote #122 Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
Permalink to quote #119
Related quotes
For I think it is the case with genius that it is not when quiescent so very much above mediocrity as the difference between the two might lead us to think, bu…
Gerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins quote #2 Genius is one of the many forms of insanity.
Cesare LombrosoCesare Lombroso quote #4 Most SF is about madness, or what is currently ruled to be madness; this is part of its attraction - it's always playing with how much the human mind can encom…
Brian AldissBrian Aldiss quote #6