Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.

Jonathan Swift

Read Thoughts on Various Subjects at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Long life Old age Aging

Author

Jonathan Swift

Source

Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

Medium

Essay

Genre

Satire

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1727 1720s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Occupation

Writer

From

Ireland Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Thoughts on Various Subjects." Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. 2nd ed, Vol. 1, London: Sam Fairbrother, 1727.

Current Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)." Jonathan Swift: The Essential Writings, edited by Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Jonathan Swift about long life: “Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1720s

The body of
B. Franklin,
Printer;
Like the cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect edition,
Corrected and amended
By the Author.

Benjamin Franklin

Read more about Ben Franklin's epitaph at the National Archives website
More information about this quote
Topic
Afterlife

Author

Benjamin Franklin
Source
Epitaph for Himself
Medium
Epitaph
Statement Type
Epitaph Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1728 1720s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. Epitaph for himself. 1728.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Epitaph." Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body and Early Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.

Another quote about Old age

She was seventy-five and she was going to make some changes in her life.

Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections

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More information about this quote
Topic
Never too late Personal growth Old age

Author

Jonathan Franzen
Source
The Corrections
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
2001 2000s 21st century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2001.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

And with the guts of the last priest
Let's wring the neck of the last king.

Denis Diderot

More information about this quote
Topic
Anti-clericalism Anti-monarchism Revolution

Author

Denis Diderot
Source
Les Eleutheromanes
Medium
Poem
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1772 1770s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Diderot, Denis. "Les Eleutheromanes [The Eleutherans]." Correspondance littéraire, 1 Mar. 1772.

Another quote of the following type Paradox

One more such victory over the Romans and we are lost.

Pyrrhus

Quoted in Plutarch's Lives, by Plutarch

Buy Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 at Amazon Buy Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 at Amazon
More information about this quote
Topic
Pyrrhic victory Victory
Speaker
Pyrrhus

Author

Plutarch
Source
Plutarch's Lives
Genre
Biography
Statement Type
Paradox Prophecies and predictions
Language
Greek
Time
279 BC 270s BC 3rd century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Pyrrhus. Quoted in "Pyrrhus." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. c. 2nd century BC, ch. 21, sect. 9.

Current Citation

Pyrrhus. Quoted in "Pyrrhus." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 21, sect. 9.