Jonathan Swift Quotes

Quotes about:

Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect.

Jonathan Swift

Men, Too Late, Limping

Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth (1784). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Including the Whole of His Posthumous Pieces, Letters, &c”, p.15

48 Copy quote
You should never be ashamed to admit you have been wrong. It only proves you are wiser today than yesterday

Jonathan Swift

Writing, Yesterday, Rejection

85 Copy quote
You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into.

Jonathan Swift

Reason, Persons

29 Copy quote
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.

Jonathan Swift

Funny, Education, Truth

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

92 Copy quote
We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

Jonathan Swift

Love, Religious, Hate

'Thoughts on Various Subjects' (1706)

119 Copy quote
Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending. May you live all the days of your life.

Jonathan Swift

Opportunity, May, Happy Endings

16 Copy quote
There are few wild beasts more to be dreaded than a talking man having nothing to say.

Jonathan Swift

Men, Talking, Beast

56 Copy quote
Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

Jonathan Swift

Inspirational, Law, Break Through

A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1709) See Anacharsis 1

117 Copy quote
Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible.

Jonathan Swift

Inspirational, Leadership, Teacher

"Thoughts on various subjects (Further thoughts on various subjects)". Book by Jonathan Swift, 1745.

102 Copy quote
Live every day as your last, because one of these days, it will be.

Jonathan Swift

Lasts, These Days, Live Every Day

14 Copy quote
Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.

Jonathan Swift

Cute, Men, Long

45 Copy quote
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Jonathan Swift

Ears, Purses, Turnips

Jonathan Swift (1856). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published ... With Memoir of the Author”, p.349

7 Copy quote
The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.

Jonathan Swift

Inspirational, Funny, Humorous

Jonathan Swift (1761). “The Works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin. Accurately Corrected by the Best Editions. With the Author's Life and Character; Notes Historical, Critical, and Explanatory; Tables of Contents, and Indexes. More Complete Than Any Preceding Edition. In Eight Volumes”, p.323

19 Copy quote
Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent.

Jonathan Swift

Blessed, Blessing, Power

39 Copy quote
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.

Jonathan Swift

Sarcasm, Glasses, Faces

Jonathan Swift (2013). “The Very Best of Jonathan Swift In Plain and Simple English (Translated)”, p.534, BookCaps Study Guides

16 Copy quote
The ruin of a State is generally preceded by an universal degeneracy of manners and contempt of religion.

Jonathan Swift

Ruins, Manners, States

Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.244

13 Copy quote
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy.

Jonathan Swift

Philosophy, Believe, Fall

97 Copy quote
I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.

Jonathan Swift

Men, Evil, Guilt

Jonathan Swift (1850). “The Works of Jonathan Swift: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published ; with a Memoir of the Author”, p.307

28 Copy quote
A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle.

Jonathan Swift

Drinking, Bottles, Literature

19 Copy quote
Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want.

Jonathan Swift

Friendship, Family, Wisdom

Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.1168, Delphi Classics

34 Copy quote
It is the talent of human nature to run from one extreme to another.

Jonathan Swift

Running, Talent, Human Nature

Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth (1755). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Accurately Revised in Six Volumes, Adorned with Copper-plates : with Some Account of the Author's Life and Notes Historical and Explanatory”, p.46

24 Copy quote
Every dog must have his day.

Jonathan Swift

Success, Dog, Bad Day

Jonathan Swift (1860). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Copious Notes and Additions, and a Memoir of the Author”, p.513

17 Copy quote
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

Jonathan Swift

Government, Slavery, Definitions

The Drapier's Letters no. 4 (1724)

106 Copy quote
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.

Jonathan Swift

Inspirational, Success, Wise

Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “Works”, p.380

59 Copy quote
There's none so blind as they that won't see.

Jonathan Swift

Life, Blind, Blindness

Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D. ...: With Notes, Historical and Critical”, p.446

26 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Charles Dickens

William Faulkner

Jonathan Swift

Follow

Born: November 30, 1667
Died: October 19, 1745
Occupation: Pamphleteer
Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics