Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745)
Irish writer and satirist.
The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.
But nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.
What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; what they do not we are told expressly: that they neither marry, nor are given in marriage.
'Tis very warm weather when one's in bed.
So weak thou art, that fools thy power despise;
And yet so strong, thou triumph'st o'er the wise.
Those dreams that on the silent night intrude, and with false flitting shapes our minds delude ... are mere productions of the brain. And fools consult interpreters in vain.
We are so fond of one another, because our ailments are the same.
The sight of you is good for sore eyes.
She pays him in his own coin.
He is taller by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court, which alone is enough to strike an awe into the beholders.
I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.
For, in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery: but in fact, eleven men well armed will certainly subdue one single man in his shirt.
You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come;
Knock as you please, there's nobody at home.
As fierce a beak and talon as ever struck -- as strong a wing as ever beat, belong to Swift. [...] One can gaze, and not without awe and pity, at the lonely eagle chained behind the bars [...] An immense genius: an awful downfall and ruin. So great a man he seems to me, that thinking of him is like thinking of an empire falling.
Hobbes clearly proves that every creature
Lives in a state of war by nature.
Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.
A set of phrases learnt by rote;
A passion for a scarlet coat;
When at a play to laugh, or cry,
Yet cannot tell the reason why:
Never to hold her tongue a minute;
While all she prates has nothing in it.
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.