How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that most people lack the ability to think deeply, similar to how they lack the ability to fly.
Jonathan Swift's quote implies that the majority of humanity is ill-equipped for profound thought, just as they are physically incapable of flying. It highlights a critical view of human intellect and the limitations that many face in understanding complex ideas or pursuing lofty ambitions.
Themes
ThinkingHumanityLimitationsWisdomIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of critical thinking in education, one might say: 'As Jonathan Swift noted, 'The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.'
More from Jonathan Swift
All quotes →What 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
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
When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
Jonathan SwiftRead
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