177 quotes
I heard the little bird say so.
In all I wish, how happy should I be,
Thou grand Deluder, were it not for thee?
So weak thou art that fools thy power despise;
And yet so strong, thou triumph'st o'er the wise.
Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and orators, because he that would obtrude his thoughts and reasons upon a multitude, will convince others the more, as he appears convinced himself.
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711)
Lose no time to contradict her,
Nor endeavour to convict her;
Only take this rule along,
Always to advise her wrong,
And reprove her when she's right;
She may then crow wise for spite.
Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711)
Laws are like Cobwebs which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through. But in Oratory the greatest Art is to hide Art.
A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1707)
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.
The Furniture of a Woman's Mind (1727)
Pigs, too frequent at our table ... are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well grown, fat, yearling child, which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a lord mayor's feast, or any other publick entertainment.
A Modest Proposal (1729)
You have clearly proved that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator: that laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied by those whose interest and abilities lies in perverting, confounding, and eluding them.
the King of Brobdingnag in Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
She wears her clothes, as if they were thrown on her with a pitchfork.
Polite Conversation (1738)
She's no chicken; she's on the wrong side of thirty, if she be a day.
Polite Conversation (1738)
Lord, I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing!
Polite Conversation (1738)
'T is happy for him that his father was before him.
Polite Conversation (1738)
She looks as if butter wou'dn't melt in her mouth.
Polite Conversation (1738)
I hate nobody: I am in charity with the world.
Polite Conversation (1738)
There is none so blind as they that won't see.
Polite Conversation (1738)
Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.
Polite Conversation (1738)
She watches him as a cat would watch a mouse.
Polite Conversation (1738)
If it had been a bear it would have bit you.
Polite Conversation (1738)
They say a carpenter's known by his chips.
Polite Conversation (1738)