"ALL Rivers go to the Sea, but none return from it. Xerxes wept when he beheld his Army, to consider that in less than a Hundred Years they would be all Dead. Anacreon was' Choakt with a Grape-stone, and violent Joy Kills as well as violent Grief. There is nothing in this World constant but Inconstancy; yet Plato thought that if Virtue would appear to the World in her own native Dress, all Men would be Enamoured with her. But now since Interest governs the World, and Men neglect the Golden Mean, Jupiter himself, if he came on the Earth would be Despised, unless it were as he did to Danae in a Golden Shower. For Men nowadays Worship the Rising Sun, and not the Setting."
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ClergyNovelists from IrelandPoets from IrelandEssayists from IrelandShort story writers from Ireland
Original Language: English
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Jonathan Swift
1667 – 1745
englisch-irischer Schriftsteller
155 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Jonathan Swift →
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