How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
An atheist has got one point beyond the devil.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that an atheist has a perspective that goes beyond traditional notions of good and evil.
Jonathan Swift's quote implies that atheists have a unique understanding of morality that does not rely on the religious dichotomy of good (God) versus evil (the devil). By stating that an atheist is 'one point beyond the devil', Swift may be suggesting that atheists possess a critical edge, allowing them to form their own ethical beliefs independent of supernatural influences.
Themes
AtheismMoralityBeliefPhilosophyEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical debate discussing the nature of good and evil.
More from Jonathan Swift
All quotes βWhat vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.
Jonathan SwiftRead
This is every cook's opinion - _x000D_ no savory dish without an onion, _x000D_ but lest your kissing should be spoiled _x000D_ your onions must be fully boiled.
Jonathan SwiftRead
The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.
Jonathan SwiftRead
This single Stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected Corner, I once knew in a flourishing State in a Forest: It was full of Sap, full of Leaves, and full of Boughs: But now, in vain does the busy Art of Man pretend to vie with Nature, by tying that withered Bundle of Twigs to its sapless Trunk: It is at best but the Reverse of what it was; a Tree turned upside down, the Branches on the Earth, and the Root in the Air.
Jonathan SwiftRead
I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.
Jonathan SwiftRead
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