In the COUNTRY of the blind, the one-eyed man is king‘A little wit, among foolish people, will pass a man for a great genius’ (T. Fielding
Proverbs of all Nations (1824) 23); also used of ability as well as wit. Cf. ERASMUS Adages
III. iv. in regione caecorum rex est luscus, in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is
king.
1522 J. SKELTON Works (1843) II. 43 An one eyed man is Well syghted when He is
amonge blynde men. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 469 In the kingdome of
blind men the one ey’d is king. 1830 J. L. BURCKHARDT Arabic Proverbs 34 The one-
eyed person is a beauty in the country of the blind. 1904 H. G. WELLS in Strand Apr. 405
Through his thoughts ran this old proverb.. ‘In the Country of the Blind, the One-Eyed
Man is king.’ 1937 W. H. SAUMAREZ SMITH Letter 7 Mar. in Young Man’s Country
(1977) ii. You exaggerate the alleged compliment paid to me by the Bengal Govt. in
wanting to retain my services. ‘In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.’
2002 B. MONAHAN Sceptred Isle Club i. 9 His success with crime-solving suggested an
extraordinary intelligence, but he could never know from his limited vantage point in
provincial Brunswick whether he was merely the one-eyed man in the land of the blind
and the Jekyl Island Club solution a fluke. ignorance; rulers and ruledHappy is the COUNTRY which has no historyCarlyle (see quot. 1864) attributed this observation to the French political philosopher
Montesquieu (1689–1755). Cf. 1740 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Feb.) Happy
that Nation,—fortunate that age, whose history is not diverting.
1807 T. JEFFERSON Letter 29 Mar. in Writings (1904) XI. 182 Blest is that nation
whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say. 1860 G. ELIOT
Mill on Floss VI. iii. The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
1864 CARLYLE Frederick the Great IV. XVI. i. Happy the people whose annals are
blank in history. 1957 V. BRITTAIN Testament of Experience I. iv. Quoting the familiar
dictum: ‘Happy is the country which has no history,’ I remarked that I belonged, like
Edward VIII, to a generation which was still on the early side of middle age but had
already seen almost more history than any generation could bear. 1981 Nature 23 Apr.
698 An old proverb.. tells us that ‘happy is the nation that has no history.’.. DNA.. is the
unhappiest of molecules, for it is the subject of innumerable biographies. blessings;
historycountry see also you can take the BOY out of the country but you can’t take the country
out of the boy; GOD made the country, and man made the town; a NATION without a