The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Aging1 quote
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Asceticism1 quote
The Stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Being misunderstood1 quote
When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Blindness1 quote
There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. — Jonathan Swift · 1738Change1 quote
There is nothing in this World constant, but Inconstancy. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Comets1 quote
Old men and comets have been reverenced for the same reason: their long beards, and pretences to foretell events. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Food1 quote
He was a bold Man that first eat an oyster. — Jonathan Swift · 1738Genius1 quote
When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Good writing1 quote
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style. — Jonathan Swift · 1720Ignorance1 quote
There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. — Jonathan Swift · 1738Impermanence1 quote
There is nothing in this World constant, but Inconstancy. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Judging others1 quote
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own. — Jonathan Swift · 1704Law1 quote
Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Lawyers1 quote
I said there was a society of men among us bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves. — Jonathan Swift · 1726Long life1 quote
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Mindfulness1 quote
Men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent as when they are at stool. — Jonathan Swift · 1726Nature of law1 quote
Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Old age1 quote
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Oysters1 quote
He was a bold Man that first eat an oyster. — Jonathan Swift · 1738Parents and children1 quote
They will never allow that a child is under any obligation to his father for begetting him, or his mother for bringing him into the world - which, considering the miseries of human life, was neither a benefit in itself nor intended so by his parents, whose thoughts in their love encounters were otherwise employed. — Jonathan Swift · 1726Perception1 quote
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. — Jonathan Swift · 1745Politicians1 quote
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. — Jonathan Swift · 1726Public opinion1 quote
It is the Folly of too many, to mistake the Eccho of a London Coffee-house for the Voice of the Kingdom. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Religion1 quote
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Religion as divisive force1 quote
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Research1 quote
He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers. — Jonathan Swift · 1726Satire1 quote
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own. — Jonathan Swift · 1704Self-criticism1 quote
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own. — Jonathan Swift · 1704Self-deprivation1 quote
The Stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. — Jonathan Swift · 1711