Jonathan Swift Quotes

No reasonable man would think more highly of himself because he has office or power in this world; he is no more than a prisoner whom the chief gaoler has set over his fellow-prisoners, until the executioner's cart comes for him too.

Pride in the case of a rich man is bad, but pride in the case of a poor man is worse.

Because you are a great noble, you think you are a great genius! Nobility, a fortune, a rank, appointment to office: all this makes a man so proud! What did you do to earn all this? You took the trouble to get born—nothing more.

On the most exalted throne in the world, we are still seated on nothing but our arse.

Lustre of man walking proud beneath the sky diminishes to nothing and goes unregarded.

HAMLET [...] we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. CLAUDIUS Alas, alas. HAMLET A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. CLAUDIUS What dost thou mean by this? HAMLET Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

And on the pedestal these words appear:
 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
 Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' 
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
 Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
 The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Let us watch against PRIDE in every shapepride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride in our own goodness.

Unchecked pride evolves into swagger, a hypnotizing mask of insecurity that can and does compromise our ability to make progress and attain power. Pride stands in the way of forgiveness and a strategic approach to navigating a chessboard rigged to prevent pawns from becoming kings and queens.

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

O vanity! you are the lever by means of which Archimedes wished to lift the earth!

Pride will spit in pride's face.

Modesty, tis a virtue not often found among poets, for almost every one of them thinks himself the greatest in the world.

When I did the film 'Hear My Voice' a few years ago, I disappeared fully up my own backside for a while. Because I thought my career was taking off, I became a bit of an egomaniac and a pain in the neck. I thought I was God's gift to mankind and the greatest Irishman since George Best.

Sometimes I wonder if there is something about my family which invites violence. 'Is it envy,' you ask? I don't know... I've had so much, a son as president, two as senators, a son-in-law who's an ambassador... perhaps God doesn't permit that much.

I look upon pride as a sin.

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

I think people who lack humility are really annoying.

Some smart man once said that on the most exalted throne in the world, we are seated on nothing but our own arse.

Often times, the more power and prestige a person achieves, the more arrogant a person can become.

Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

I am not trying to say that I am poor and that I don't like beautiful things. But I don't like luxury for luxury sake or in the sense of showing off luxury.

If I was sharp in every area, I might be too big-headed or something.

There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. 'Good pride' represents our dignity and self-respect. 'Bad pride' is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.