Simon Dedalus is a fictional character in two works by James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. He is the father of Stephen Dedalus, a principal character in both books, and a friend of Leopold Bloom, the hero of Ulysses. Dedalus is a passionate Irish nationalist and follower of Parnell, and a fine drinking companion, but proves a poor pater familias, unable to care for his large family, and is seen as an inadequate father to Stephen, who, in Ulysses, must seek out Bloom as a surrogate father figure, despite Simon's frequent presence throughout the book. Dedalus was largely based on Joyce's own father, John Stanislaus Joyce.
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“Stevenson had noble ideas—as did the young Franklin for that matter. But Stevenson felt that the way to implement them was to present himself as a thoughtful idealist and wait for the world to flock to him. He considered it below him, or wrong, to scramble out among the people and ask them what they wanted. Roosevelt grappled voters to him. Stevenson shied off from them. Some thought him too pure to desire power, though he showed ambition when it mattered.”
—Garry Wills, U.S. historian. Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders, ch. 9, Simon & Schuster (1994)