662 Quotes by Jonathan Swift

The greatest inventions were produced in the times of ignorance, as the use of the compass, gunpowder, and printing

Surely mortal man is a broomstick!

Possession, they say, is eleven points of the law.

Tell truth, and shame the devil.

It is very unfair in any writer to employ ignorance and malice together, because it gives his answerer double work.

Atlas, we read in ancient song, Was so exceeding tall and strong, He bore the skies upon his back, Just as the pedler does his pack; But, as the pedler overpress'd Unloads upon a stall to rest, Or, when he can no longer stand, Desires a friend to lend a hand, So Atlas, lest the ponderous spheres Should sink, and fall about his ears, Got Hercules to bear the pile, That he might sit and rest awhile.

Modesty may make a fool seem a man of sense.

A pleasant companion is as good as a coach.

Neither is it safe to count upon the weakness of any man's understanding, who is thoroughly possessed of the spirit of revenge to sharpen his invention.