Jonathan Swift

Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist (1667-1745) · Writers · Died at 77

Jonathan Swift is read about 1,596 times a day, in 101 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 23 October 2026

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He sent tiny people and floating islands into the English canon, then turned his pen colder: a deadpan essay proposing the Irish eat their own children. Swift wrote satire so sharp it coined an adjective.

Writers Writer / Author Poetry Fiction Philosophy Literature Early Modern Era

A life in dates

1745Died19 October 17451713“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.”In their wordsCadenus and Vanessa (1713)Read the whole statement

1711“I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.”In their words17 May 1711Journal to Stella (May 17, 1711)Read the whole statement

“We are so fond of one another, because our ailments are the same.”In their words1 February 1711Journal to Stella (February 1, 1711)Read the whole statement

1710“Tis very warm weather when one's in bed.”In their words8 November 1710Journal to Stella (November 8, 1710)Read the whole statement

1709“There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake, though all the World sees them to be in downright nonsense.”In their wordsSeptember 1709The Tatler No. 63 (September 1709)Read the whole statement

1704“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.”In their wordsThe Battle of the Books, preface (1704)Read the whole statement

1667Born30 November 1667

Also in Deutsch

Photos 6

Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas detail

Dublin St. Patrick's Cathedral South Aisle Queen Anne Patent 2012 09 26

EstherJohnson1893Century

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Jonathan Swift 28-11-2023 10-49-33

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Jonathan Swift 28-11-2023 10-50-15

The pathway of life to which is added a biography of Dr. Talmage (1888) (14595524468)

In their own words 10

Jonathan Swift

10 statements, newest first

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.
1713, Cadenus and Vanessa (1713), Own words
…one enemy can do more hurt, than ten friends can do good.
Jun 30, 1711, Journal to Stella (30 June, 1711), Own words
I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.
May 17, 1711, Journal to Stella (May 17, 1711), Own words

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In their orbit

Mother: Abigail Erick

About this person

Jonathan Swift was born 30 November 1667, an Anglo-Irish cleric who hid behind pseudonyms - Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier - to publish everything he wrote. In 1704 he released A Tale of a Tub, then An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in 1708, mastering both Horatian and Juvenalian modes. He was appointed dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin in 1713. In 1726 came Gulliver's Travels, the novel that built Lilliput and became the most printed book by an Irish writer ever. Three years later A Modest Proposal landed with its infamous deadpan cruelty, spawning the term "Swiftian." He died 19 October 1745, leaving a body of work that shaped Ruskin, Orwell, and the mechanics of irony itself.

Writers born in the 1660s 6

Richard Bentley50.1 Catherine Bernard49.4

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