Jonathan Swift — "The greatest happiness of the greatest number."
The greatest happiness of the greatest number.
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More from Jonathan Swift
"I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."
"Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly."
"Eloquence, as well as the other fine arts, must be cultivated with care."
"And that this boasted lord of nature Is both a weak and erring creature."
"If a man would do good, he must be able to bear evil."
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.