Jonathan Swift
Birthday:
30 November 1667, Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland [now Republic of Ireland]
Books, the children of the brain.
Books, the children of the brain.
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil t...Show more »
It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind. Show less «
The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.
The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.
It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.
It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.
Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.
Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.
The most positive men are the most credulous.
The most positive men are the most credulous.
The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.
The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.
Anyone who loves either the law or sausages should not see either being made.
Anyone who loves either the law or sausages should not see either being made.
[on flattery] 'Tis an old maxim in the schools that flattery's the food of fools; yet now and then your men of wit will condescend to take a...Show more »
[on flattery] 'Tis an old maxim in the schools that flattery's the food of fools; yet now and then your men of wit will condescend to take a bit. Show less «
[on flattery] Nothing is so great an instance of ill manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; if you flatter on...Show more »
[on flattery] Nothing is so great an instance of ill manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; if you flatter only one or two, you affront all the rest. Show less «
Gossip is what some invent and others enlarge.
Gossip is what some invent and others enlarge.
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
[Gulliver] As I studied History I was struck by how many inconsequential men were elevated to great power and responsibility, and how many t...Show more »
[Gulliver] As I studied History I was struck by how many inconsequential men were elevated to great power and responsibility, and how many times momentous events hinged on mere accident. Show less «
Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance.
Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance.
You cannot reason a man out of a position he wasn't reasoned into in the first place.
You cannot reason a man out of a position he wasn't reasoned into in the first place.
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