Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
Gulliver’s Travels (1726)- English establishment = Yahoos
On Religion
- enough religion to make us hate
- not enough to make us love one another.
A Modest Proposal (1729)
- too many poor Irish
- sell poor babies to rich
- yes, as food.
On Human Nature
- Men are content to be laughed at for their wit, but not for their folly.
- Man is not rational – merely capable of it.
On Government
- without the Consent of the Governed, Government is the very Definition of Slavery
- in Fact, Eleven Men well armed, will certainly subdue one single man in his Shirt.
On Law
- Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.
On Satire
- mankind’s virtues –> counted upon a few fingers
- his follies and vices are innumerable –> time adds hourly to the heap.
“SATIRE is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
Inspired by:
Jonathan Swift’s Birthday (Nov. 30, 1667)