Quotes by Jonathan Swift
It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.
Faith he must make his stories shorter Or change his comrades once a quarter.
We have enough religion to hate each other, but not enough to love each other.
In church your grandsire cut his throat; to do the job too long he tarried: he should have had my hearty vote to cut his throat before he married.
A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone
Happiness is the perpetual possession of being well deceived.
The two maxims of any great man at court are, always to keep his countenance and never to keep his work.
Fine words! I wonder where you stole them
When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
Argument is the worst sort of conversation.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him
In the school of political projectors, I was but ill entertained, the professors appearing, in my judgment, wholly out of their senses; which ...
Ambition often puts Men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same position with creeping.
And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole
It is in men as in soils where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of, and in your nature, there lies hidden rich mines of thought and purpose awaiting your development
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.
She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitchfork.
When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in confederacy against him.
It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.
May you live all the days of your life.
How is it possible to expect mankind to take advice when they will not so much as take warning
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.
Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical.
I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution.
