How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do either.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the challenge of understanding differing opinions and the nature of certainty in knowledge.
Jonathan Swift reflects on the difficulty of conveying the concept of opinion and disputability to his master, emphasizing that reason dictates that we can only affirm or deny things we are certain of. This insight brings to light the limitations of knowledge and suggests that claims made without certainty can lead to conflicts in understanding and belief.
Themes
OpinionKnowledgeCertaintyReasonDisputability
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about differing perspectives, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of acknowledging the limits of our own understanding.
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.
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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.
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The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.
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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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