---
title: "4 Dozen Quotes By Jonathan Swift"
description: "4 Dozen quotes by Jonathan Swift. Plus more from Jonathan Swift and more Dozen sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jonathan-swift-433_age_what-vexes-me-most-is-that-my-female-fri_752542.jpg"
---

> [What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/what-vexes-me-most-is-that-my-female-friends-who-could-bear-me-very/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/jonathan-swift-433_age_what-vexes-me-most-is-that-my-female-fri_752542.jpg)

> [I will venture to affirm, that the three seasons wherein our corn has miscarried did no more contribute to our present misery,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/i-will-venture-to-affirm-that-the-three-seasons-wherein-our-corn-has/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/286/jonathan-swift-433_coats_i-will-venture-to-affirm-that-the-three_1260918.jpg)

> [ If the world had but a dozen Arbuthnots I would burn my \[Gulliver's\] Travels. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/if-the-world-had-but-a-dozen-arbuthnots-i-would-burn-my-gulliver-s/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/145/jonathan-swift-433_biographies_if-the-world-had-but-a-dozen-arbuthnots_2798846.jpg)

> [If the world had but a dozen Arbuthnots in it, I would burn my Travels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/if-the-world-had-but-a-dozen-arbuthnots-in-it-i-would-burn-my-travels/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e5/jonathan-swift-433_biographies_if-the-world-had-but-a-dozen-arbuthnots_3098002.jpg)

## Other authors on Dozen

## More by Jonathan Swift

> [Time is painted with a lock before, and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock; for, when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/time-is-painted-with-a-lock-before-and-bald-behind-signifying-thereby/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [“He said, he knew no reason why those who entertain opinions prejudicial to the public should be obliged to change, or should not be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/he-said-he-knew-no-reason-why-those-who-entertain-opinions/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [I with borrow'd silver shine, What you see is none of mine. First I show you but a quarter, Like the bow that guards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/i-with-borrow-d-silver-shine-what-you-see-is-none-of-mine-first-i/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [A favor is half granted, when graciously refused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-favor-is-half-granted-when-graciously-refused/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/i-never-wonder-to-see-men-wicked-but-i-often-wonder-to-see-them-not/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [The best Maxim I know in this life is, to drink your Coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/the-best-maxim-i-know-in-this-life-is-to-drink-your-coffee-when-you/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [A lie is an excuse guarded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-lie-is-an-excuse-guarded/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [A forward critic often dupes us With sham quotations peri hupsos, And if we have not read Longinus, Will magisterially outshine us. Then, lest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-forward-critic-often-dupes-us-with-sham-quotations-peri-hupsos-and/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [May you live every day of your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/may-you-live-every-day-of-your-life/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [Ale is meat, drink and cloth; it will make a cat speak and a wise man dumb.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/ale-is-meat-drink-and-cloth-it-will-make-a-cat-speak-and-a-wise-man/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [All fits of pleasure are balanced by an equal degree of pain or languor; it is like spending this year part of the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/all-fits-of-pleasure-are-balanced-by-an-equal-degree-of-pain-or/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/satire-is-a-sort-of-glass-wherein-beholders-do-generally-discover/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/when-a-great-genius-appears-in-the-world-you-may-know-him-by-this/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals: for instance, I hate the tribe of lawyers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/i-have-ever-hated-all-nations-professions-and-communities-and-all-my/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

> [So endless and exorbitant are the desires of men that they will grasp at all, and can form no scheme of perfect happiness with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/so-endless-and-exorbitant-are-the-desires-of-men-that-they-will-grasp/)

[Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/)

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                        "text": "What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.",
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