--- title: "8 Understood Quotes By Jonathan Swift" description: "8 Understood quotes by Jonathan Swift. Plus more from Jonathan Swift and more Understood sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/jonathan-swift-433_profound_where-i-am-not-understood-it-shall-be-co_241617.jpg" --- > [Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/where-i-am-not-understood-it-shall-be-concluded-that-something-very/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/jonathan-swift-433_profound_where-i-am-not-understood-it-shall-be-co_241617.jpg) > [It is an uncontrolled truth, that no man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/it-is-an-uncontrolled-truth-that-no-man-ever-made-an-ill-figure-who/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b4/jonathan-swift-433_figures_it-is-an-uncontrolled-truth-that-no-man_251825.jpg) > [Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/politics-as-the-word-is-commonly-understood-are-nothing-but/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/246/jonathan-swift-433_corruption_politics-as-the-word-is-commonly-underst_1035059.jpg) > [Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions, and consequently of no use to a good king or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/politics-as-the-word-is-commonly-understood-are-nothing-but-2/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f14/jonathan-swift-433_corruption_politics-as-the-word-is-commonly-underst_1329892.jpg) > [“There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof I hope there will be no reason to doubt; particularly, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/there-are-certain-common-privileges-of-a-writer-the-benefit-whereof-i/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/jonathan-swift-433_benefits_there-are-certain-common-privileges-of-a_2081136.jpg) > [If we take an examination of what is understood by happiness ... we shall find all its properties ... under this short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/if-we-take-an-examination-of-what-is-understood-by-happiness-we-shall/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a1/jonathan-swift-433_deceived_if-we-take-an-examination-of-what-is-und_2160981.jpg) > [No man of honor, as the word is usually understood, did ever pretend that his honor obliged him to be chaste or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/no-man-of-honor-as-the-word-is-usually-understood-did-ever-pretend/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55b/jonathan-swift-433_being-wise_no-man-of-honor-as-the-word-is-usually-u_2854359.jpg) > [Liberty of conscience is nowadays only understood to be the liberty of believing what men please, but also of endeavoring to propagate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/liberty-of-conscience-is-nowadays-only-understood-to-be-the-liberty/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/jonathan-swift-433_belief_liberty-of-conscience-is-nowadays-only-u_3024037.jpg) ## Other authors on Understood ## 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/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understood/jonathan-swift/#itemlist", "name": "8 Understood Quotes By Jonathan Swift", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Swift" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/where-i-am-not-understood-it-shall-be-concluded-that-something-very/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": 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"position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof I hope there will be no reason to doubt; particularly, that where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath; and again, that whatever word or sentence is printed in a different character shall be judged to contain something extraordinary either of wit or sublime.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Swift" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/there-are-certain-common-privileges-of-a-writer-the-benefit-whereof-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/jonathan-swift-433_benefits_there-are-certain-common-privileges-of-a_2081136.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/jonathan-swift-433_benefits_there-are-certain-common-privileges-of-a_2081136.jpg", "url": 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