Just came across a nice quotation from the Chinese poet Su Tung-Po (1056-1101) - cited as an epigraph in Simon Harcourt-Smith's book Alberoni, The Spanish Conspiracy (1943). An interesting, if unconventional, view on what it takes to qualify for the highest offices of state!

Families, when a child is born

Want it to be intelligent.

I through intelligence

Having wrecked my whole life

Only hope the baby will prove

Ignorant and stupid.

Thus he will crown a tranquil life

By becoming a Cabinet Minister.

For more poems by Su Tung Po (aka Su Shi) click on following link http://www.blackcatpoems.com/s/su_shi.html

For more about his life see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Shi