Jonathan Swift Quotes

Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.

It's an old Elizabethan idea. The fool is the only one who is allowed to make fun of the king because he is a fool. I can say whatever I want about anybody else because I'm just an idiot talking - I'm not insisting that I'm any smarter than anyone else. It's satire.

Praise to the undeserving is severe satire.

By rights, satire is a lonely and introspective occupation, for nobody can describe a fool to the life without much patient self-inspection.

There's always been this tradition of satirizing these rich groups of people.

Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.

By the very nature of satire or parody, you have to love and respect your target and respect it enough to understand every aspect of it, so you can more effectively make fun of it.

I wanted to make a film about stupid people that was very vulgar and deeply stupid. From that moment on I can hardly be reproached for making a film that is about stupid people.

Facetiousness is allowable when it is the most proper instrument of exposing things apparently base and vile to due contempt.

If you're going to get into social criticism with absurdity and satire, you can't be politically correct when you do that.

It is difficult not to write satire.

Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize.

If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking, "Do you want fries with that?

We make fun of our leaders.

I think a playful critique is good for all of us, and that's basically how I see satire functioning. But I'm not interested in a kind of contemptuous satirical vision; I try always, even when I'm knowingly being satirical, to also be humane, but I mean, let's face it: there's plenty in American life to make fun of, and we all participate in it.

In a satire, you need foolishness.

Comedy actually works best when you're living in an OK world, and you are pointing out the hypocrisy in apathy.

I started out making fun of comedy. Then I became the thing I was making fun of.

I've never been much drawn towards satire of any kind.

A lot of French comedy is satire.

Satire does not look pretty upon a tombstone.

Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet.

Satire's nature is to be one-sided, contemptuous of ambiguity, and so unfairly selective as to find in the purity of ridicule an inarguable moral truth.

In general satire, every man perceives A slight attack, yet neither fears nor grieves.

Satire recoils whenever charged too high; round your own fame the fatal splinters fly.