How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Seamen have a custom, when they meet a whale, to fling him out an empty tub by way of amusement, to divert him from laying violent hands upon the ship.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote humorously illustrates the absurdity of how one might deal with a threat, showing a creative but impractical solution.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift employs humor to depict the sailors' unconventional practice of distracting a whale with an empty tub. This absurd scenario reflects a broader commentary on human behavior in the face of danger, suggesting that sometimes we resort to whimsical and illogical actions rather than addressing serious threats directly.
Themes
HumorAbsurditySailorsWhaleDangerDistractionCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to lighten the mood during a discussion about unconventional solutions to problems.
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.
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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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