How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
It is in men as in soils where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often possess untapped potential or value that they are unaware of.
This quote by Jonathan Swift suggests that just as certain types of soil may contain hidden veins of gold, individuals can have intrinsic qualities, talents, or potential that they themselves do not recognize. It emphasizes the idea that each person may hold something valuable within them, waiting to be discovered and utilized, which highlights the importance of self-awareness and personal growth.
Themes
PotentialValueSelf-AwarenessHiddenGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal development.
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
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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I don't guess. I think. I ponder. I deduce. Then I decide. But I never guess.
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I see the cure is not worth the pain.
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