662 Quotes by Jonathan Swift

Small causes are sufficient to make a man uneasy, when great ones are not in the way: for want of a block he will stumble at a straw.

When we are old, our friends find it difficult to please us, and are less concerned whether we be pleased or not.

Tis an old maxim in the schools, That flattery's the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit, Will condescend to take a bit

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

Two women seldom grow intimate but at the expense of a third person.

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of conversation. It is done to support a character: it generally fails; it is a sort of insult on the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.

When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

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

I cannot imagine why we should be at the expense to furnish wit for succeeding ages, when the former have made no sort of provision for ours.