How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Human brutes, like other beasts, find snares and poison in the provision of life, and are allured by their appetites to their destruction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans can be led to harm by their own desires, just as animals are often trapped by their instincts.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift reflects on the darker aspects of human nature, suggesting that like other animals, humans may fall into traps and make harmful choices driven by their appetites. He highlights the idea that desires and cravings can be detrimental, leading individuals to danger and eventual destruction if not managed wisely.
Themes
DesiresHuman NatureSelf-DestructionAppetitesTraps
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about addiction, this quote could emphasize the dangers of succumbing to harmful cravings.
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
Similar quotes
The word 'Islam' means 'peace.' The word 'Muslim' means 'one who surrenders to God.' But the press makes us seem like haters.
Muhammad AliRead
It isn't what people think that is important, but the reason they think what they think.
Eugene IonescoRead
Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone.
LaoziRead
I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will.
Margaret AtwoodRead
But there is a light that goes deeper than the will, a light that lights up the darkness behind it: that light can change your will, can make it truly yours and not another's - not the Shadow's. Into the created can pour itself the creating will, and so redeem it!
George MacdonaldRead
No moral code or ethical principle, no piece of scripture or holy teaching, can be summoned to defend what we have allowed our country to become.
Matthew DesmondRead