Augustus De Morgan, "Siphonaptera", A Budget of Paradoxes (1872)
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Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
— Augustus De Morgan on Insect suffering
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on." in the context of "Augustus De Morgan, "Siphonaptera", A Budget of Paradoxes (1872)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Insect suffering" (M)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Augustus De Morgan
Augustus De Morgan (June 27 1806 – March 18 1871) was an Indian-born British mathematician and logician; he was the first professor of mathematics at University College London. He formulated De Morgan's laws and was the first to introduce the term, and make rigorous the idea of mathematical induction. De Morgan crater on the Moon is named after him.
About Augustus De Morgan
Augustus De Morgan (June 27 1806 – March 18 1871) was an Indian-born British mathematician and logician; he was the first professor of mathematics at University College London. He formulated De Morgan's laws and was the first to introduce the term, and make rigorous the idea of mathematical induction. De Morgan crater on the Moon is named after him.
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