Jonathan Swift Quotes - Page 2

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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

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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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No wise man ever wished to be younger.

Jonathan Swift

Birthday, Wise, Time

Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

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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

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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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Physicians ought not to give their judgment of religion, for the same reason that butchers are not admitted to be jurors upon life and death.

Jonathan Swift

Life And Death, Giving, Physicians

Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

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The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.

Jonathan Swift

Funny, Thinking, Flying

"Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies". Book by Jonathan Swift, 1711-1726.

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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

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We of this age have discovered a shorter, and more prudent method to become scholars and wits, without the fatigue of reading or of thinking.

Jonathan Swift

Reading, Thinking, Criticism

Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.72, Delphi Classics

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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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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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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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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

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Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.

Jonathan Swift

Broken Heart, Food, Pie

1738 Polite Conversation.

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If you were not reasoned into your beliefs, you cannot be reasoned out of them.

Jonathan Swift

Belief, Ifs

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Reason is a very light rider, and easily shook off.

Jonathan Swift

Light, Reason, Riders

Jonathan Swift (1800). “Tale of a Tub: written for the universal improvemend of mankind”, p.140

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Vision is seeing the invisible.

Jonathan Swift

Vision, Invisible, Seeing

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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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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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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

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Many a truth is told in jest.

Jonathan Swift

Wisdom, Truth Is, Jest

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

Jonathan Swift

Drinking, Bottles, Literature

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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.

Jonathan Swift

Death, Evil, Dying

Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1824). “Sermons (cont.) Tracts in defence of Christianity. Tracts in support of the Church establishment. Tracts on the test act. Essays, periodical and miscellaneous”, p.56

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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)

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

Jonathan Swift

Wise, People, Solitude

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

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