Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swiftwas an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth30 November 1667
CountryIreland
kings age reform
The example alone of a vicious prince will corrupt an age; but that of a good one will not reform it.
men ungrateful veils
He that calls a man ungrateful sums up all the veil that a man can be guilty of.
men behaviour suits
One principal object of good-breeding is to suit our behaviour to the three several degrees of men, our superiors, our equals, and those below us.
men age genius
There never appear more than five or six men of genius in an age, but if they were united the world could not stand before them.
two age might
Every age might perhaps produce one or two geniuses, if they were not sunk under the censure and obloquy of plodding, servile, imitating pedants.
flattery manners ill
Nothing is so great an instance of ill-manners as flattery.
wise lying men
Let a man be ne'er so wise, he may be caught with sober lies.
faith law world
A maxim in law has more weight in the world than an article of faith.
romance littles ingredients
A little grain of the romance is no ill ingredient to preserve and exalt the dignity of human nature, without which it is apt to degenerate into everything that is sordid, vicious and low.
strong pain irritation
Patience alleviates, as impatience augments, pain; thus persons of strong will suffer less than those who give way to irritation.
education noses lifts
Oh how our neighbour lifts his nose, To tell what every schoolboy knows.
kissing two certainty
A chuck under the chin is worth two kisses.
people coward emergencies
Cruel people are ever cowards in emergency.
anarchy firsts steps
Arbitrary power is but the first natural step from anarchy, or the savage life.