Words are often things also, and very precious, especially on the gravest occasions. Without "words," and the truth of things that is in them, what were we?

The groundwork of all happiness is health.

Bread, milk and butter are of venerable antiquity. They taste of the morning of the world.

To receive a present handsomely and in a right spirit, even when you have none to give in return, is to give one in return.

Did you ever observe that immoderate laughter always ends in a sigh?

We really cannot see what equanimity there is in jerking a lacerated carp out of the water by the jaws, merely because it has no the power of making a noise; for we presume that the most philosophic of anglers would hardly delight in catching a shrieking fish.

For the qualities of sheer wit and humor, Swift had no superior, ancient or modern.