How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
So, naturalists observe, a flea; Hath smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller fleas to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates a cycle of dependency and hierarchy in nature, where each creature is preyed upon by a smaller one.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift observes the interconnectedness of life forms, highlighting how each organism exists within a complex hierarchy of predation. It suggests a perpetual cycle where every creature, no matter how small, has its own predators, reinforcing the idea of life being a continuum of relationships and dependencies that stretch infinitely.
Themes
NatureDependencyInterconnectednessPredationHierarchy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about ecological relationships in a biology class.
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
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