History Main / PlatoIsAMoron

-->''"[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Elminster]] ''this!'' Elminster ''that!'' Give ''me'' [[WizardsLiveLonger 2,000 years]] and [[NiceHat a pointy hat]], and I'll kick his arse!"''

* In Myth/GreekMythology, Arachne goes around claiming she is better at weaving than Athena. As in, the ''goddess'' Athena, who is ''not'' amused to hear about this. The two end up holding a contest to determine who is the best. Depending on the version, Arachne either loses handily, and gets turned into a spider for losing; or she actually ''wins'' and gets turned into a spider anyway because gods hate losing. Either way, [[SmallNameBigEgo hubris]] is very dangerous in Greek myths.

* Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was known to denigrate the skills of previous champions, such as Emanuel Lasker, whom he called a 'coffeehouse player', and even took shots at Jose Raul Capablanca, saying that much of his analysis on certain games was nonsense. He also accused many the best Russian players of cheating by pre-arranging games with each other. Notably inverted with earlier American champion Paul Morphy, however, who Bobby Fischer said would probably have defeated him in a match.

* Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was known to denigrate the skills of previous champions, such as Emanuel Lasker, whom he called a 'coffeehouse player', and even took shots at Jose Raul Capablanca, saying that much of his analysis on certain games was nonsense. He also accused many the best Russian players of cheating by pre-arranging games with each other. games Notably inverted with earlier American champion Paul Morphy, however, who Bobby Fischer said would probably have defeated him in a match.

* Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was known to denigrate the skills of former champions, such as Emanuel Lasker, whom he called a 'coffeehouse player', and even took shots at Jose Raul Capablanca, saying that much of his analysis on certain games was nonsense. Notably inverted with earlier American champion Paul Morphy, however, who Bobby Fischer said would probably have defeated him in a match.

->'''Man in Black:''' Yes?

* In GreekMythology, Arachne goes around claiming she is better at weaving than Athena. As in, the ''goddess'' Athena, who is ''not'' amused to hear about this. The two end up holding a contest to determine who is the best. Depending on the version, Arachne either loses handily, and gets turned into a spider for losing; or she actually ''wins'' and gets turned into a spider anyway because gods hate losing. Either way, [[SmallNameBigEgo hubris]] is very dangerous in Greek myths.

--> "You know how Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, [[BookDumb mine are even worse!]]"

* In GreekMythology, Arachne goes around claiming she is better at weaving than Athena. As in, the ''goddess'' Athena, who is ''not'' amused to hear about this. The two end up holding a contest to determine who is the best. Depending on the version, Arachne either loses handily, and gets turned into a spider for losing; or she actually ''wins'' and gets turned into a spider anyway because gods hate losing. Either way, [[SmallNameBigEgo hybris]] is very dangerous in Greek myths.

* Creator/AynRand was once quoted as saying that, in the history of philosophy, she could only recommend the "three As" of Creator/{{Aristotle}}, [[Creator/ThomasAquinas]] and herself.

* Creator/AynRand was once quoted as saying that, in the history of philosophy, she could only recommend the "three As" of Creator/{{Aristotle}}, Thomas Aquinas and herself.

* [[OverlyLongName Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim]] took this to its logical extent by naming himself as Paracelsus. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist who had written what had been one of the seminal tracts on medicine from Rome to his era, including such things as surgery, identification of the fever as a defense mechanism, and cancer, and the name "Paracelsus" literally meant that [[GratuitousLatin Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus]] [[MeaningfulName Bombastus]] [[InsufferableGenius von Hohenheim]] was "greater than Celsus." The annoying thing? "Paracelsus" was ''right''; he is today remembered as one of the primary forerunners of modern medicine, with his belief in the need to ground medicine in the physical sciences (particularly chemistry), his notion that diseases are entities unto themselves rather than states of being, and his emphasis on specific remedies for specific maladies all being foundational principles of today's medical science. He is more specifically known as the father of the discipline of toxicology; his maxim that "the dose makes the poison" is still taught in medical schools to this day. As for Celsus, he is mostly remembered for being the guy Paracelsus chose to compare himself to.

--->It's on, ''[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]''.

* ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' has an instance where this is used, but the character in question is being described by the narration rather than doing the bragging himself.

* On ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'', Madame Mim brags about being a better wizard than Myth/{{Merlin}}, "The world's most powerful bungler."

* ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' has an instance where this is used, but the character in question is being described by the narration rather than doing the bragging himself. This is very much a JustifiedTrope.

* ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' has an instance where this is used, but the character in question is being described by the narration rather than doing the bragging himself.

* [[OverlyLongName Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim]] took this to its logical extent by naming himself as Paracelsus. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist who had written what had been one of the seminal tracts on medicine from Rome to his era, including such things as surgery, identification of the fever as a defense mechanism, and cancer, and the name "Paracelsus" literally meant that [[GratuitousLatin Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus]] [[MeaningfulName Bombastus]] [[InsufferableGenius von Hohenheim]] was "greater than Celsus." The annoying thing? "Paracelsus" was ''right''; he is today remembered as one of the primary forerunners of modern medicine, with his belief in the need to ground medicine in the physical sciences (particularly chemistry), his notion that diseases are entities unto themselves rather than states of being, and his emphasis on specific remedies for specific maladies all being foundational principles of today's medical science. He is more specifically known as the father of the discipline of toxicology; his maxim that "the dose makes the poison" is still taught in medical schools to this day. As for Celsus, he is mostly remembered for being the guy Paracelsus chose to compare himself to and (despite what he got right above) getting things wrong which held medicine back for centuries, as his works were treated as gospel.

* Inverted in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':

* [[OverlyLongName Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim]] took this to its logical extent by naming himself as Paracelsus. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist who had written what had been one of the seminal tracts on medicine from Rome to his era, including such things as surgery, identification of the fever as a defense mechanism, and cancer, and the name "Paracelsus" literally meant that [[GratuitousLatin Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus]] [[MeaningfulName Bombastus]] [[InsufferableGenius von Hohenheim]] was "greater than Celsus." The annoying thing? "Paracelsus" was ''right''; he is today remembered as one of the primary forerunners of modern medicine, with his belief in the need to ground medicine in the physical sciences (particularly chemistry), his notion that diseases are entities unto themselves rather than states of being, and his emphasis on specific remedies for specific maladies all being foundational principles of today's medical science. He is more specifically known as the father of the discipline of toxicology; his maxim that "the dose makes the poison" is still taught in medical schools to this day. As for Celsus, he is mostly remembered for being the guy Paracelsus chose to compare himself to.

* [[OverlyLongName Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim]] took this to its logical extent by naming himself as Paracelsus. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist who had written what had been one of the seminal tracts on medicine from Rome to his era, including such things as surgery, identification of the fever as a defense mechanism, and cancer, and the name "Paracelsus" literally meant that [[AltumVidetur Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus]] [[MeaningfulName Bombastus]] [[InsufferableGenius von Hohenheim]] was "greater than Celsus." The annoying thing? "Paracelsus" was ''right''; he is today remembered as one of the primary forerunners of modern medicine, with his belief in the need to ground medicine in the physical sciences (particularly chemistry), his notion that diseases are entities unto themselves rather than states of being, and his emphasis on specific remedies for specific maladies all being foundational principles of today's medical science. He is more specifically known as the father of the discipline of toxicology; his maxim that "the dose makes the poison" is still taught in medical schools to this day. As for Celsus, he is mostly remembered for being the guy Paracelsus chose to compare himself to.

* On one episode of ''ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', Charlie participates in a trial of intelligence-enhancing drugs. While riding high on superintelligence, he casually insists that, Stephen Hawking, while talented, is really more of a celebrity than a scientist. [[spoiler: This is especially funny when we learn that the drug was a placebo, which had no real affect on intelligence but skyrocketed Charlie's arrogance.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', after being called a "[[BerserkButton moron]]" one too many times, [[spoiler:Wheatley]] decided to prove his intelligence by reading [[Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavelli]] (or claiming to, anyway) and commenting on how ''easy'' it was.

For the even more outrageous claim that Bob is better than ''God'', see BlasphemousBoast. For ''actual'' anti-platonism (which is the position that "abstract entities" don't exist) see MeaninglessMeaningfulWords. Distant cousin to FamousFamousFictional, where a fictional person is established as a great [whatever] by having his name placed next to two RealLife [whatever]s, albeit without the unfavorable comparison.

-->''"[[ForgottenRealms Elminster]] ''this!'' Elminster ''that!'' Give ''me'' [[WizardsLiveLonger 2,000 years]] and [[NiceHat a pointy hat]], and I'll kick his arse!"''

* [[OverlyLongName Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim]] took this to its logical extent by naming himself as Paracelsus. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist who had written what had been one of the seminal tracts on medicine from Rome to his era, including such things as surgery, identification of the fever as a defense mechanism, and cancer, and the name "Paracelsus" literally meant that [[AltumVidetur Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus]] [[MeaningfulName Bombastus]] [[InsufferableGenius von Hohenheim]] was "greater than Celsus."

This is a form of boast wherein Bob claims that he is the best at something by listing people who are well known for being good at that thing and then declaring them inferior to himself. It's generally a sign that Bob is a {{Narcissist}} or a SmallNameBigEgo character -- whose faith in his own superiority will be proven very false very soon -- or otherwise ObfuscatingIntelligence, but sometimes Bob really ''is'' [[InsufferableGenius that good]].