An X among Ys, a Y among Xs

An X among Ys, a Y among Xs (or An X with Ys, a Y with Xs, among other variations) is a meme popular in literature from the ancient times to the 18th centuries, in which the subject is spoken of as displaying one characteristic among or relative to a group of people having a second, but displaying the second characteristic among or relative to a group of people having the first. Sourced A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits. Alexander Pope, The Dunciad (1728-1743), Book iv, line 90. I come to tell you this, and to advise you to shut the gates of your gardens forthwith, and to cease the harangues of a master, since you only pass for a philosopher among fools, and for a fool among philosophers. Frances Wright, A few days in Athens (1822), p. 51. Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt stulti eruditis videntur. Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish. Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria (c. 95 AD), book X, 7, line 21. If he be not fellow with the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good fellows. William Shakespeare, King Henry V (c. 1599), Act v, Scene 2. Attributed This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords. Samuel Johnson Boswell's Life, vol. ii, ch. i, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge. William Cowper, Conversation, line 298, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers. Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). He [Steele] was a rake among scholars, and a scholar among rakes. Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, Review of Aikin's Life of Addison, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Temple was a man of the world among men of letters, a man of letters among men of the world. Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, Review of Life and Writings of Sir William Temple, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Delle belle eruditissima, delle erudite bellissima. Translated: "Most learned of the fair; fairest of the learned". Attributed to Sannazarius by Greswell in his Memoirs of Politian, inscribed to Cassandra Marchesia an edition of his Italian Poems, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Live among men as if God beheld you; speak to God as if men were listening. Seneca the Younger, Epistles, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Category:Memes