Quote#Speech
A set of phrases learnt by rote
Quote byJonathan Swift · 1667–1745
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Furniture of a Woman's Mind (1727).
English (original)
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.
— Jonathan Swift
More from Jonathan Swift
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
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.
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
I mean you lie—under a mistake.
Lord M. What religion is he of? Lord Sp. Why, he is an Anythingarian.
There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake, though all the World sees them to be in downright nonsense.