The 50 best sentences of Jonathan Swift
Today there are few people who do not know any fragment of "Gulliver's Travels", especially the part that takes place in Lilliput.
This work (which in fact is much more extensive and refers to multiple trips of the main character) was written by Jonathan Swift, a well-known writer and Irish clergy characterized by his satirical criticism of society.
Throughout his life this author made multiple observations and reflections on various issues some of which we collect in this article, in which we present a small collection of phrases by Jonathan Swift .
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50 unforgettable phrases by Jonathan Swift
Here we present some fifty phrases by Jonathan Swift referring to various topics, in some cases taken from his work.
1. I hope you live every day of your life!
The author expresses the need to live as we want to do it, moving us and acting according to our deepest convictions and desires.
2. The best doctors in the world are: the doctor diet, the doctor rest and the doctor joy
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 the fools are conjured against him
Swift tells us about envy towards those who stand out and attacks towards them by those who do not.
4. Nothing is constant in this world but inconstancy
This phrase reflects that everything is subject to changes over time, however safe it may be.
5. Books: the children of the brain
Phrase that reflects that literature is a form of intellectual and emotional expression.
6. A single enemy can do more harm than good that you can do ten friends together
Swift considered that those who want to hurt us are going to rush to do it and we will perceive it in a more intense way than what our relatives usually tend to do.
7. Most of the amusements that men, children and other animals give are imitations of the struggle
The author indicates the role of aggression and the struggle in nature.
8. We have enough religion to hate us, but not enough to love us
Despite being religious, Swift was also critical of the faith and the distorted use of it as an element for 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 that belief
The author indicates at the same time that he criticizes the attempt to force the propagation of beliefs.
10. Laws are like cobwebs, which catch poor flies and let in wasps and bumblebees
The author criticizes the inequality with which the laws are applied, which the powerful ones skip without much 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 as well as to act accordingly.
12. It is an axiom that the one to whom everyone grants the second place, has undoubted merits to occupy the first
People who stay close to the top (regardless of the vital area we are talking about) often have more than enough capacity to reach it, sometimes even more than the person who gets the first place.
13. Ambition tends to lead people to execute the vilest tasks. Therefore, to climb, you adopt the same position as to crawl
The author criticizes those who by ambition and greed betray, tread and destroy others.
14. Most people are like pins: their heads are not the most important thing
The author criticizes the low capacity for reflection that most people express, that they simply get carried away without questioning anything.
15. Happy is he who expects nothing because he will always be satisfied
Comment that ironizes about those who do not have hopes and expectations, who do not suffer disappointment but are not going to bring great joys either.
16. A man should never be ashamed to admit that he has made a mistake, that it is as much as to say that today he is wiser than he was yesterday
It is not bad to be wrong, and to acknowledge having done it alone makes us capable of accepting and learning from those mistakes.
17. Everyone would like to live a long time, but nobody would want to be old
Although almost nobody wants to die, we also do not want time to pass and we get old (which on the other hand implies the fact of living). Maintaining 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 a bribe for a judge, or greed for the 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 ability of the powerful to apply his power to caprice without regulating himself with some moral criterion.
19. Censorship is the tribute a man pays the public to be eminent
The changes and the audacity 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 kind 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 for which so few are offended by it
People often laugh at the satire but do not realize that in many cases it also reflects their own behaviors.
21. No wise man ever wanted to be young
The author associates wisdom with experience and youth with the lack of it. The wise person is also able to see that everything has its time, being that of youth that 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 my life or even in those that were most celebrated for this faculty.
We all lie on occasion, but rarely is this 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 others who do not know their strength
Swift proposes that people tend either to overestimate themselves or to underestimate their own abilities, not recognizing themselves enough.
24. The Stoic scheme of fulfilling our needs by lowering our desires is like cutting our feet when we want shoes
The author considers that we must fight to fulfill our goals, dreams and desires, however ambitious they may seem, without being satisfied with the crumbs.
25. What some invent, the rest enlarges
This phrase tells us about the transmission of rumors and how, as one passes from one person to another, they tend to be exaggerated and magnified.
26. Now I am rehearsing a very frequent experiment among modern authors, that is, writing about nothing
Swift criticizes the frequent elaboration of texts and ramblings 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 like to be fed, but in reality it is usually used as a method of manipulation without thereby obtaining any kind of real benefit.
28. We can observe in the republic of 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 large bone comes to fall into the possession of some principal dog, the which it distributes with a few, establishing an oligarchy or conserving it for itself, 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 his own benefit.
29. Elders and comets have been venerated for the same reason: their long beards and their pretenses to predict events
The age usually supposes a greater quantity of lived experiences, that allow to compare the past with the present and to establish predictions on the future. This is what makes the experience of the elderly so valuable.
30. Naturalists have observed that a flea carries on its body other smaller fleas, which in turn feed other, smaller fleas. And so on to infinity
The author considers that in society we tend to take advantage of one another, so that someone takes advantage of someone but at the same time others take advantage of him.
31. Do you want to lose your enemy? Adúlale
Again the author exposes the role of vanity when it comes to being manipulated.
32. Those who walk attentively through the streets will undoubtedly have the happiest faces in the carriages in mourning
This phrase reflects the lack of joy and dynamism visible in the day to day, appearing the dead a greater happiness to escape suffering.
33. The writer who wants to know how to behave in relation to posterity has only to examine in the old books what it is that pleases him and what are the omissions that he most regrets
The author pushes 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
The act of kissing supposes one of the most pleasant acts and that greater union and intimacy supposes between two people.
35. It was a brave man the first to eat an oyster
Swift expresses the courage that comes with being the first to do something.
36. It is impossible that a thing as natural, as necessary and as universal as death may have been destined to humanity, by providence as an evil
The human being is usually afraid of death, but it is natural that we must accept that it will happen to all of us sooner or later.
37. No man will accept advice, but everyone will accept money. From which it follows that money is worth more than advice
Critical to the value socially granted to money, as well as to the difficulty to accept advice and indications from others ..
38. I've always believed that no matter how many shots fail ... I'll hit the next one
This phrase reflects the need not to be defeated by failures, since with perseverance we can achieve our goals.
39. Since love without self-love is capricious and volatile, 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 to become emotionally involved with those we say love.
40. Life is a tragedy that 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 role in life, having attended and learned from experience.
41. The best preacher is time, which makes us come to have those same thoughts that the older people tried in vain to get into the head
As we experiment, little by little and with time we can come to understand and think like those that precede us.
42. A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart
While the economy is a part of our lives that we have to take into account, we must not act for economic interest but for our convictions and values.
43. The invention is the talent of young people, as the trial is older
It is usually young people who have the greatest interest in experimenting, managing to find new things never seen before due to motivation, energy, imagination and assumption of age-related risks, 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 or bad things, but throughout our life cycle we will experience both types of situations.
45. Power is not a blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent
The main objective of power should be the protection of those it leads, trying to achieve a stable and fair world for all.
46. Leisure time is the right time to do something profitable
Although it may seem like a contradiction, our free time is usually the one that we most take advantage of and in which we do more meaningful things for our life.
47. If a man keeps me at a distance, I am consoled that he also keeps
Those who distance themselves from us, in turn, are 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 it is still that way
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. The promises and the crust of bread were made to break them
The author considers that the rules and promises do not always have to be maintained, since the circumstances may change.
