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.
kings men voting
In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man uncapable of holding any public station; for, since kings avow themselves to be the deputies of Providence.
kings mean fate
Come hither, all ye empty things, Ye bubbles rais'd by breath of Kings; Who float upon the tide of state, Come hither, and behold your fate. Let pride be taught by this rebuke, How very mean a thing's a Duke; From all his ill-got honours flung, Turn'd to that dirt from whence he sprung.
kings ministry use
Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions, and consequently of no use to a good king or a good ministry; for which reason Courts are so overrun with politics.
bewitched last protest sparing took water
Indeed, Madame, your ladyship is very sparing of your tea; I protest the last I took was no more than water bewitched
consult ends private
In all distresses of our friends We first consult our private ends
abound conceive hard others riches
Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches to conceive how others can be in want.
bottle madness places sold
Taverns are places where madness is sold by the bottle
That's as well said as if I had said it myself
expressly heaven ignorant
What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; what they do not we are told expressly
art seeing vision
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
child daughter pride war
War is the child of Pride, and Pride the daughter of Riches.
defined proper style words writers-and-writing
Style may defined as the proper words in the proper places.
art fools power thou thy weak
So weak thou art that fools thy power despise; And yet so strong, thou triumph'st o'er the wise.