“Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy is the best bred in the company.”
More from Jonathan Swift on Wisdom
“No wise man ever wished to be younger.”
“A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong which is but saying ... that he is wiser today than yesterday.”
“When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”
“Tis an old maxim in the schools That flattery's the food of fools - Yet now and then your men of wit Will condescend to take a bit.”
“Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want.”
“Brutes find out where their talents lie a bear will not attempt to fly.”
“What some invent the rest enlarge.”
“When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.”
“Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“Compassion is the radicalism of our time.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“A closed mouth catches no flies.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Little by little does the trick.”
Confucius
19 quotes“The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man perfected without trials.”
Ben Franklin
18 quotes“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.”
George Washington
14 quotes“Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.”
Rudyard Kipling
14 quotes“I keep six honest serving men. (They taught me all I know) Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and...”
Khalil Gibran
14 quotes“Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration.”