“Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.” — Jonathan Swift | V2Melody

“Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.”

Distinguishing the desire for longevity from the burdens of ageing · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

About Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

30 November 1667–19 October 1745

The life of Jonathan Swift presents one of literature's most fascinating paradoxes: a clergyman who wrote with brutal satirical force, an Irishman who felt himself English, a conservative who championed the oppressed, and a misanthrope whose fury arose from disappointed idealism. Born into poverty and obscurity, Swift…

More by Jonathan Swift

Poems by Jonathan Swift

Clever Tom Clinch Going to Be Hanged Listen

More remarks by Jonathan Swift

“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.”

Advocating practical awareness without allowing wealth to govern the affections · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

Fame
Truth

“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.”

Observing how satire exposes human hypocrisy while leaving self-knowledge difficult · Preface to The Battle of the Books (1704)

Art
Truth

“May you live all the days of your life.”

A concise blessing for fully inhabiting the time one is given · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

Joy
Time