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Jonathan Swift quotes

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“Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“Of so little weight are the greatest services to princes, when put into the balance with a refusal to gratify their passions.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our...” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in some other countries: for they reason thus; that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he has received...” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens,) five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest, without...” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“They have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the...” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“This made me reflect, how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavour to do himself honour among those who are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“He is taller by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court; which alone is enough to strike an awe into the beholders.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language;...” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“He has been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“But he may please to consider, that the caprices of womankind are not limited by any climate or nation, and that they are much more uniform, than can be easily imagined.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“It is not easy to express the joy I was in, upon the unexpected hope of once more seeing my beloved country, and the dear pledges I left in it.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
“They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld; and the women more horrible than the men . . . The reader will easily believe, that from what I had hear and seen, my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much abated.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

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silence care comparison ingratitude power respect conversation court weakness reason greatness women ideas passion knowledge reading books death beauty crime

Related sources

Gulliver's Travels (15)