Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping.

—Jonathan Swift

About Jonathan Swift

Portrait of Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. He was the author of the satirical prose novel Gulliver's Travels (1726) and the creator of the fictional island of Lilliput. He is regarded by many as the greatest satirist of the...

More quotations from Jonathan Swift

Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.

—Jonathan Swift

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

—Jonathan Swift

Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.

—Jonathan Swift

Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

—Jonathan Swift

Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

—Jonathan Swift

More quotations tagged with “ambition”

Ambition - it is the last infirmity of noble minds.

—J. M. Barrie

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The nature of society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow-by the tilt of the social landscape.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

—Edgar Bergen

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

History

11 Jul 2015 Added