Jonathan Swift

It is likewise to be observed that this society hath a peculiar chant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which they take special care to multiply.

It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it.

May you live all the days of your life.

Brutes find out where their talents lie; A bear will not attempt to fly, A foundered horse will oft debate Before he tries a five barred gate. A dog by instinct turns aside Who sees the ditch too deep and wide, But man we find the only creature Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when she loudly cries-Forbear! With obstinacy fixes there; And where the genius least inclines, Absurdly bends his whole designs.

The reasons why so few marriages are happy, is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.

If they would, for Example, praise the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they describe it by Rhombs, Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipses, and other geometrical terms ...

And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

I hate nobody: I am in charity with the world.

There is nothing in this world constant, but inconstancy.

I always like to begin a journey on Sundays, because I shall have the prayers of the Church to preserve all that travel by land or by water.