Jonathan Swift Quotes - Page 2

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• It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.

  Jonathan Swift

  Sarcasm, Men, Vices

  Jonathan Swift (1861). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Cop'ous Notes and Additions”, p.612

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• 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

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• Many a truth is told in jest.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wisdom, Truth Is, Jest

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• 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.

  Jonathan Swift

  Justice, Decision, Special

  Jonathan Swift, Dutton Kearney, Joseph Pearce (2010). “Gulliver's Travels”, p.279, Ignatius Press

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• I said there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are as slaves.

  Jonathan Swift

  Success, Art, Men

  Gulliver's Travels "A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms" ch. 5 (1726)

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• He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

  Jonathan Swift

  Food, Men, Oysters

  1738 Polite Conversation, dialogue 2.

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• It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.

  Jonathan Swift

  Acceptance, Men, Religion

  Attributed to Jonathan Swift in "Scientific American", Volume 7 (p. 338), 1851; also in M. M. Ballou "Treasury of Thought" (p. 433), 1884.

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• Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest people uneasy is the best bred in the room.

  Jonathan Swift

  Art, People, Literature

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• And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wish, Conversation, Unsaid

  Jonathan Swift (1843). “Works: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers Not Hitherto Published”, p.294

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• I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

  Jonathan Swift

  Worst, Acquaintance, Company

  'Journal to Stella' (published in 'Works', 1768) 17 May 1711

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• Cruel people are ever cowards in emergency.

  Jonathan Swift

  People, Coward, Emergencies

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• Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Limping, Truth And Lies, Lies Truth

  Speech by PM Najib Razak at WAN-IFRA 16th Asian Media Awards, www.nst.com.my. April 19, 2017.

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• Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.

  Jonathan Swift

  Party, Political, Politics

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1814). “The Works of Jonathan Swift: Miscellanies, by Mr. Pope, Dr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Gay, &c. Prose miscellanies by Swift and Sheridan”, p.255

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• Blot out, correct, insert, refine, enlarge, diminish, interline. Be mindful, when invention fails. To scratch your head and bite your nails.

  Jonathan Swift

  Nails, Mindfulness, Scratches

  Jonathan Swift (2011). “Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings”, p.625, Bantam Classics

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• The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.

  Jonathan Swift

  People, Bird, Fruit

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• I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing.

  Jonathan Swift

  Funny, Inspiration, Being In Love

  1738 Polite Conversation, dialogue 2.

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• Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Opinion, Ill

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.1227, Delphi Classics

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• There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

  Jonathan Swift

  Funny, Life, Money

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• No wise man ever wished to be younger.

  Jonathan Swift

  Birthday, Wise, Time

  Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

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• I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.

  Jonathan Swift

  Good Morning, Good Day, Greatness

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• Although the devil be the father of lies, he seems, like other great inventors, to have lost much of his reputation by the continual improvements that have been made upon him.

  Jonathan Swift

  Father, Lying, Devil

  Jonathan Swift (2011). “Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings”, p.558, Bantam Classics

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• The best Maxim I know in this life is, to drink your Coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Coffee, Life Is, Drink

  Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift (1766). “Letters Written By The Late Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; And Several Of His Friends: From The Year 1703 To 1740”, p.297

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• Pride, ill nature, and want of sense, are the three great sources of ill manners.

  Jonathan Swift

  Pride, Three, Want

  Jonathan Swift (1861). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Cop'ous Notes and Additions”, p.621

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• It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Work, Lying, Done

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.458

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• Wise people are never less alone than when they are alone.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wise, People, Solitude

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