Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and there are a hundred men… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Had Windham possessed discretion in debate, or Sheridan in conduct, they might have ruled their age. — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
I will venture to affirm, that the three seasons wherein our corn has miscarried did no more contribute to our present misery,… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
An English tongue, if refined to a certain standard, might perhaps be fixed forever. — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Atlas, we read in ancient song, Was so exceeding tall and strong, He bore the skies upon his back, Just as the… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
The most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws,… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Men of wit, learning and virtue might strike out every offensive or unbecoming passage from plays. — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Though Diogenes lived in a tub, there might be, for aught I know, as much pride under his rags, as in the… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
I used to wonder how a man of birth and spirit could endure to be wholly insignificant and obscure in a foreign… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Every age might perhaps produce one or two geniuses, if they were not sunk under the censure and obloquy of plodding, servile,… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Time is painted with a lock before, and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock; for, when it is… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
“He said, he knew no reason why those who entertain opinions prejudicial to the public should be obliged to change, or should not be… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
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… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed. — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
The best Maxim I know in this life is, to drink your Coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
A forward critic often dupes us With sham quotations peri hupsos, And if we have not read Longinus, Will magisterially outshine us. Then, lest… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
Ale is meat, drink and cloth; it will make a cat speak and a wise man dumb. — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
All fits of pleasure are balanced by an equal degree of pain or languor; it is like spending this year part of the next… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
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… — Jonathan Swift Copy Share Image
