How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle; they live in great amity with me, and friendship of each other.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the deep bond and understanding between the speaker and their horses, emphasizing friendship without the constraints of traditional control.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift expresses the unique relationship he shares with his horses, suggesting that true companionship transcends reliance on tools like bridles or saddles. The hours spent in conversation not only reveal a sense of understanding between them but also illustrate the notion that genuine friendships, whether human or animal, are built on mutual respect and a deep connection.
Themes
FriendshipUnderstandingHorsesCompanionshipAmity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the bond between humans and animals, this quote could underscore the importance of understanding and care.
More from Jonathan Swift
All quotes βWhat 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.
Jonathan SwiftRead
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
Similar quotes
Oh, if I had had a friend at this moment, a friend in an attic room, dreaming by candlelight and with a violin lying ready at his hand! How I should have slipped up to him in his quiet hour, noiselessly climbing the winding stair to take him by surprise, and then with talk and music we should have held heavenly festival throughout the night!
Hermann HesseRead
Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.
Virginia WoolfRead
All things are in common among friends.
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Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
AristotleRead
Make no man your friend before inquiring how he has used his former friends; for you must expect him to treat you as he has treated them. Be slow to give your friendship, but when you have given it, strive to make it lasting; for it is as reprehensible to make many changes in one's associates as to have no friends at all. Neither test your friends to your own injury nor be willing to forego a test of your companions.
IsocratesRead