The 50 best quotes by Jonathan Swift

We review the best reflections of the author of "Gulliver's Travels".

Today there are few people who do not know some fragment of "Gulliver's Travels", especially the part that takes place in Lilliput.

This work (which in fact is much longer and refers to multiple journeys of the main character) was written by Jonathan Swift, a well-known Irish writer and clergyman characterized by his satirical criticism of society.

Throughout his life this author made many observations and reflections on various topics, some of which are collected in this article, in which we we present a small collection of quotes by Jonathan Swift..

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50 unforgettable quotes by Jonathan Swift

Here are some fifty quotes by Jonathan Swift on various subjects, in some cases taken from his work.

1. May you live all the days of your life!

The author expresses the need to live the way we want to live, getting excited and acting according to our deepest convictions and desires.

2. The best doctors in the world are: the diet doctor, the rest doctor, and the joy doctor.

A phrase that reflects some of the most important elements in the maintenance of health and well-being.

3. When a great genius appears in the world, he can be recognized by this sign: all fools conspire against him.

Swift speaks of the envy of those who excel and the attacks on them by those who do not.

4. Nothing is constant in this world but inconstancy.

This phrase reflects that everything is subject to change over time, however certain it may be.

5. Books: children of the brain

A phrase that reflects that literature is a form of intellectual and emotional expression.

6. A single enemy can do more harm than the good that ten friends can do together.

Swift considered that those who want to harm us will go to great lengths to do so and we will perceive it in a more intense way than what our friends tend to do habitually.

7. Most of the amusements to which men, children and other animals indulge are imitations of the fight.

The author points out the role of aggressiveness and fighting in nature.

8. We have religion enough to hate each other, but not enough to love each other.

Despite being religious, Swift was also critical of faith and the distorted use of it as an element of confrontation and segregation.

9. Freedom of conscience is understood today not only as the freedom to believe what one wants, but also to be able to propagate this belief.

The author indicates at the same time that he criticizes the attempt to force the propagation of beliefs.

10. Laws are like spider webs, which catch the poor flies and let wasps and bumblebees pass through.

The author criticizes the inequity with which the laws are applied, which the powerful bypass with little consequence.

11. Vision is the art of seeing invisible things.

Knowing how to see, knowing how to go beyond the merely perceptible, allows us to know and appreciate much more what surrounds us and to act accordingly.

12. It is an axiom that he to whom everyone gives the second place, has undoubted merits to occupy the first place.

People who stay near the top (regardless of the field of life we are talking about) often have more than enough capabilities to reach the top, sometimes even more than the person who gets the first place.

13. Ambition often leads people to perform the most vile deeds. Therefore, in order to climb, one adopts the same posture as in order to crawl.

The author criticizes those who, out of ambition and greed, betray, trample and destroy others.

14. Most people are like pins: their heads are not the most important thing.

The author criticizes the lack of reflection shown by most people, who simply let themselves go without questioning anything.

15. Blessed is he who expects nothing because he will always be satisfied.

A commentary that ironically criticizes those who have no hopes and expectations, who do not suffer disappointments but are not going to have great joys either.

16. A man should never be ashamed to admit that he has made a mistake, which is as much as to say that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

It is not wrong to make mistakes, and acknowledging having made them only makes us capable of accepting and learning from them.

17. Everyone would like to live a long time, but no one would like to be old.

Although almost no one wants to die, neither do we want time to pass and we grow old (which on the other hand implies the fact of living). Keeping a young and active spirit is fundamental.

18. Arbitrary power is a natural temptation for a prince, like wine or women for a young man, or bribery for a judge, or avarice for an old man, or vanity for a woman.

The author expresses the ease with which we can fall into temptation ignoring any criteria. This includes the ease with which the powerful can apply their power at whim without regulating themselves with any moral criteria.

19. Censorship is the tribute a man pays to the public to be eminent.

The changes and the daring to break with the established are not usually well seen initially by the majority, having been initially censored great works and discoveries.

20. Satire is a sort of mirror in which those who observe generally discover the faces of all but their own, the main reason why it is well received in the world and why so few take offense at it

People often laugh at satire but do not realize that in many cases it also reflects their own behavior.

21. No wise man ever wanted to be young

The author associates wisdom with experience and youth with the lack of it. The wise man is also able to see that everything has its time, being that of youth the time of experimentation that has led the wise man to be where he is.

22. Although lying is a universal practice, I do not remember having heard three good lies in all my life, not even in those who were most celebrated for this faculty.

We all lie at one time or another, but this is seldom positive, and even the most gifted in it do not usually know how to keep their lies.

23. There are many who do not know their weakness, but there are just as many who do not know their strength.

Swift suggests that people tend either to overestimate themselves or to underestimate their own capacities, not recognizing themselves sufficiently.

24. The stoic scheme of fulfilling our needs by lowering our desires is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.

The author believes that we should strive to fulfill our goals, dreams and desires, however ambitious they may seem, without settling for crumbs.

25. What some invent, the rest make bigger

This phrase tells us about the transmission of rumors and how, as they pass from one person to another, they tend to be exaggerated and magnified.

26. I am now trying a very frequent experiment among modern authors, namely, to write about nothing.

Swift criticizes the frequent elaboration of texts and digressions that lead to nothing, something very common even today.

27. Beware of flattery. It is feeding you with an empty spoon.

Vanity is something that most people like to be fed, but in reality it is often used as a method of manipulation without any real benefit.

28. We can observe in the republic of the dogs that the whole state enjoys the most absolute peace after an abundant meal, and that civil strife arises among them as soon as a big bone falls into the power of some main dog, who distributes it to a few, establishing an oligarchy or keeps it for himself, establishing a tyranny.

The author criticizes the political system and the structure of the society in which he lived, with favoritism and the use of power for one's own benefit.

29. Old men and comets have been venerated for the same reason: their long beards and their claims to predict events.

Age usually implies a greater amount of lived experience, which makes it possible to compare the past with the present and to establish predictions about the future. This is why the experience of the elderly is so highly valued.

30. Naturalists have observed that a flea carries on its body other smaller fleas, which in turn feed other smaller fleas. And so on ad infinitum

The author considers that in society we tend to take advantage of each other, so that someone takes advantage of someone else but others take advantage of him.

31. Do you want to lose your enemy? Adulate him

Again the author exposes the role of vanity when it comes to being manipulated.

32. He who walks attentively through the streets will undoubtedly see the most cheerful faces in the mourning carriages.

This phrase reflects the lack of joy and dynamism visible in everyday life, with the dead appearing happier as they escape from suffering.

33. The writer who wants to know how he should conduct himself in relation to posterity has only to examine in the old books what is pleasing to him and what are the omissions he regrets most.

The author encourages us to learn from the past, and to dare to try new things to achieve new results.

34. Sir, I would like to know who was the madman who invented the kiss.

Kissing is one of the most pleasurable acts of union and intimacy between two people.

35. It was a brave man who was the first to eat an oyster

Swift expresses the courage of being the first to do something.

36. It is impossible that a thing so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death could have been destined for mankind, by providence as an evil.

The human being is usually afraid of death, but it is something natural that we must accept that it is going to happen to all of us sooner or later.

37. No man will accept advice, but all will accept money. From which it follows that money is worth more than advice.

Criticism of the social value placed on money, as well as the difficulty of accepting advice and direction from others.

I have always believed that no matter how many shots I miss... I will hit the next one.

This phrase reflects the need not to be defeated by failures, since with perseverance we can achieve our goals.

39. As love without self-love is capricious and volatile, so esteem without love is languid and cold.

The author expresses the need to love oneself in order to be able to give love to others, as well as the need to be emotionally involved with those we say we love.

40. Life is a tragedy to which we attend as spectators for a while, and then we play our part in it

Jonathan Swift indicates that sooner or later we have our part to play in life, having attended and learned from the experience.

41. The best preacher is time, which makes us come to have the same thoughts that older people tried in vain to put into our heads.

As we experience, little by little and with time we can come to understand and think like those who preceded us.

42. A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.

While economics is a part of our lives that we have to take into account, we should not act out of economic interest but out of our convictions and values.

43. Invention is the talent of the young, as judgment is the older age

It is usually young people who are more interested in experimenting, finding new things never seen before due to the motivation, energy, imagination and risk-taking of their age, while as we grow older we tend to reach a greater understanding of things and value more risks and benefits.

44. All moments of pleasure are counterbalanced by an equal degree of Pain or sadness.

In life there are not only good and bad things, but throughout our life cycle we will experience both types of situations.

45. Power is no blessing in itself, except when used to protect the innocent.

The main objective of power should be the protection of those it directs, trying to achieve a stable and just world for all.

46. Leisure time is the time for doing something useful.

Although it may seem a contradiction, our free time is usually the time we take most advantage of and the time in which we do the most meaningful things in our lives.

47. If a man keeps me at a distance, I take comfort in the fact that he also keeps himself at a distance.

Whoever distances himself from us, in turn, is preventing us from maintaining a relationship that one of the parties does not want to be maintained without us having to make any effort to avoid it.

48. Apollo, the god of medicine, used to send diseases. In the beginning the two trades were one and the same, and it is still so.

The author establishes a criticism against the medicine of the time.

49. Happiness is the privilege of being well deceived.

The author establishes a relationship between happiness and ignorance, so that the more ignorant we are of the difficulties, obstacles and hard and painful elements of life the more possible it is to be happy, without worrying.

50. Promises and the crust of bread were made to break them.

The author considers that rules and promises should not always be kept, since circumstances may change.