How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
It is likewise to be observed that this society hath a peculiar chant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which they take special care to multiply.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how societies develop their own unique languages and systems of rules that can be incomprehensible to outsiders.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift reflects on the nature of society and its exclusive language, suggesting that each society creates its own unique forms of communication, customs, and laws that serve to distinguish them from others. This concept emphasizes the isolation that can arise from specialized knowledge and the intricate ways language shapes social structure, reinforcing the idea that societal norms often alienate those who do not belong to that specific group.
Themes
SocietyLanguageCommunicationLawsUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about cultural differences and misunderstandings during a sociology lecture.
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.
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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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