A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high
He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide; [ Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel ]

The fountain of my heart dried up within me, -
With nought that loved me, and with nought to love,
I stood upon the desert earth alone.
And in that deep and utter agony,
Though then, then even most unfit to die
I fell upon my knees and prayed for death. [ Maturin ]

Science keeps down the weed of superstition, not by logic, but by rendering the mental soil unfit for its cultivation. [ Tyndall ]

Too elevated qualities often unfit a man for society. We do not go to market with ingots, but with silver and small change. [ Chamfort ]

Whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity. [ Bacon ]

Susceptibility to one class of influences, the selection of what is fit for him, the rejection of what is unfit, determines for a man the character of the universe. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Half the logic of misgovernment lies in this one sophistical dilemma: if the people are turbulent, they are unfit for liberty; if they are quiet, they do not want liberty. [ Macaulay ]

The mind of the greatest man on earth is not so independent of circumstances as not to feel inconvenienced by the merest buzzing noise about him; it does not need the report of a cannon to disturb his thoughts. The creaking of a vane or a pully is quite enough. Do not wonder that he reasons ill just now; a fly is buzzing by his ear; it is quite enough to unfit him for giving good counsel. [ Pascal ]

We readily excuse paralytics from labor; and shall we be angry with a hypochondriac for not being cheerful in company? Must we stigmatize such an unfortunate person as peevish, positive, and unfit for society? His disorder may no more suffer him to be merry, than the gout will suffer another to dance. The advising a melancholic to be cheerful is like bidding a coward to be courageous, or a dwarf be taller. [ Wollaston ]