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
spring mean rivers
The first springs of great events, like those of great rivers, are often mean and little.
mean men opinion
Love of flattery, in most men, proceeds from the mean opinion they have of themselves; in women, from the contrary.
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.
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.
alone less man wise
A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone