A Confederacy of Dunces

by John Kennedy Toole

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. Jonathan Swift—

“To you character is a psychosis. Integrity is a complex. I’ve heard it all before.”

“Please do,” Ignatius replied, his lips quivering, and prepared another hot dog to quiet his trembling nervous system.

“They would try to make me into a moron who liked television and new cars and frozen food. Don’t you understand? Psychiatry is worse than communism. I refuse to be brainwashed. I won’t be a robot!”

Every asylum in this nation is filled with poor souls who simply cannot stand lanolin, cellophane, plastic, television, and subdivisions.”