Quote#Hope
There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof,…
Quote byJonathan Swift · 1667–1745
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: A Tale of a Tub (1704), Preface.
English (original)
There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof, I hope, there will be no reason to doubt; particularly, that where I am not understood, it shall be concluded, that something very useful and profound is couched underneath; and again, that whatever word or sentence is printed in a different character, shall be judged to contain something extraordinary either of wit or sublime.
— Jonathan Swift
More from Jonathan Swift
Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
Lord M. What religion is he of? Lord Sp. Why, he is an Anythingarian.
I mean you lie—under a mistake.
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake, though all the World sees them to be in downright nonsense.