177 quotes
And he gave it for his opinion, that whosoever 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.
Gulliver's Travels (1726)
So weak thou art, that fools thy power despise;
And yet so strong, thou triumph'st o'er the wise.
She has more goodness in her little finger, than he has in his whole body.
Polite Conversation (1738)
I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.
Polite Conversation (1738)
…one enemy can do more hurt, than ten friends can do good.
Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?
Polite Conversation (1738)
She sits tormenting every guest,
Nor gives her tongue one moment's rest,
In phrases batter'd, stale, and trite,
Which modern ladies call polite.
I won't quarrel with my bread and butter.
Polite Conversation (1738)
'Tis nothing when you are used to it.
I can discover no political evil in suffering bullies, sharpers, and rakes, to rid the world of each other by a method of their own; where the law hath not been able to find an expedient.
Men nowadays Worship the Rising Sun, and not the Setting.
A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1707)
Daphne knows, with equal ease,
How to vex and how to please;
But the folly of her sex
Makes her sole delight to vex.
I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.
A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711)
What some invent the rest enlarge.
A carpenter's known by his chips.
A college joke to cure the dumps.
Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions, and consequently of no use to a good king or a good ministry; for which reason Courts are so overrun with politics.
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711)
I'll give you leave to call me anything, if you don't call me "spade".
Polite Conversation (1738)
Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age…
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711)