Jonathan Swift

Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want.

I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing.

Better belly burst than good liquor be lost.

Although I write to entertain, and try to keep my work free of didacticism, I do have a rather passionate belief in our need to be connected to - and to learn from - history.

A myth is a lie that conceals or reveals a truth. But if it reveals even a strand of history or truth, that's what gets my adrenaline going.

Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.