Quote#Speech
The two maxims of any great man at court are always to keep his…
Quote byJonathan Swift · 1667–1745
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726).
English (original)
The two maxims of any great man at court are always to keep his countenance and never to keep his word.
— Jonathan Swift
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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.