Jonathan Swift — "It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind…"
It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.
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More from Jonathan Swift
"And he gave it for his opinion, that 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…"
"'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."
"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own."
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"The greatest happiness of the greatest number."
About Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Anglo-Irish satirist and Dean of Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral whose Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729) are the canonical English-language satires. Closely associated with Alexander Pope (Scriblerus Club poet and collaborator) and John Gay (Beggar's Opera author and satirical contemporary). For an intellectual contrast, see Daniel Defoe, English Whig journalist and Robinson Crusoe author (1660-1731) — Defoe's Crusoe (1719) celebrates Enlightenment self-reliance and the colonial-mercantile project; Swift's Gulliver (1726) systematically dismantles every form of human pretension Defoe celebrated. The cleanest Augustan Whig-vs-Tory literary pairing — optimistic-empirical vs misanthropic-satirical.