How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker laments the loss of friendships with women who once valued their companionship, questioning why this has changed over time.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift reflects on the nature of friendships and how they can change as people age. He notes with irony that despite the passage of time, he feels he is not as old in relation to his female friends as he once was, suggesting that societal perceptions of age and worth in friendships can shift, leading to feelings of abandonment and confusion.
Themes
FriendshipLossAgeChangePerception
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a discussion about the evolution of friendships over time.
More from Jonathan Swift
All quotes →This is every cook's opinion - _x000D_ no savory dish without an onion, _x000D_ but lest your kissing should be spoiled _x000D_ your onions must be fully boiled.
Jonathan SwiftRead
The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.
Jonathan SwiftRead
This single Stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected Corner, I once knew in a flourishing State in a Forest: It was full of Sap, full of Leaves, and full of Boughs: But now, in vain does the busy Art of Man pretend to vie with Nature, by tying that withered Bundle of Twigs to its sapless Trunk: It is at best but the Reverse of what it was; a Tree turned upside down, the Branches on the Earth, and the Root in the Air.
Jonathan SwiftRead
I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.
Jonathan SwiftRead
When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Similar quotes
If you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.
Lewis CarrollRead
A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.
Charles DarwinRead
In our friendships we have to be wise that we choose godly people to be our friends. Somebody might say, well does that mean that you should never have a lost person as your friend? No, I wouldn't say that. But you can't have the same intimacy with a lost person that you can with a godly person in whom the Holy Spirit is living.
Charles StanleyRead
I'm so happy because today I found my friends - they're in my head.
Kurt CobainRead
A blessed thing it is to have a friend; one human soul whom we can trust utterly; who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults; who will speak the honest truth to us, while the world flatters us to our face, and laughs at us behind our back; who will give us counsel and reproof in a day of prosperity and self-conceit; but who, again, will comfort and encourage us in days of difficulty and sorrow, when the world leaves us alone to fight our own battle as we can.
Charles KingsleyRead
Insistence on truth can come into play when one party practices untruth or injustice. Only then can love be tested. True friendship is put to the test only when one party disregards the obligation of friendship.
Mahatma GandhiRead