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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.

— Jonathan Swift A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1707)

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More quotes by Jonathan Swift

Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.

Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.

I said the thing which was not. (For they have no word in their language to express lying or falsehood.)

Gulliver's Travels (1726)

He made it a part of his religion never to say grace to his meat.

A Tale of a Tub (1704)

A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone.

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jonathan Swift (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.