And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.
Jonathan SwiftHad Windham possessed discretion in debate, or Sheridan in conduct, they might have ruled their age.
Jonathan SwiftYour notions of friendship are new to me; I believe every man is born with his quantum, and he cannot give to one without robbing another. I very well know to whom I would give the first place in my friendship, but they are not in the way, I am condemned to another scene, and therefore I distribute it in pennyworths to those about me, and who displease me least, and should do the same to my fellow prisoners if I were condemned to a jail.
Jonathan SwiftWords are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.
Jonathan SwiftIngratitude is amongst them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in some other countries: for they reason thus; that whoever makes ill-returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of the mankind, from where he has received no obligations and therefore such man is not fit to live.
Jonathan Swift