Gulliverin Matkat Kaukaisilla Mailla
Gulliverin Matkat Kaukaisilla Mailla
Translated by Samuli Suomalainen
A classic satirical novel written in the early 18th century. The story follows Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon whose adventures take him to various fantastical lands, beginning with Lilliput, a miniature nation inhabited by tiny people. This journey serves as a vehicle for Swift to critique human nature and contemporary society. At the start of the narrative, the protagonist provides background on his life, detailing his education and early career, which leads him to travel extensively. After a shipwreck, Gulliver washes ashore in Lilliput, where he is captured by its inhabitants who are only six inches tall. Bound and unable to move, Gulliver experiences both fear and curiosity as he interacts with the tiny population, ultimately igniting a mix of admiration and fear among them. The opening sets the stage for a rich exploration of the absurdities of politics and society through Gulliver’s extraordinary experiences in Lilliput and beyond.
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“Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.””
— Jonathan Swift
“I cannot but conclude that the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.””
— Jonathan Swift
“Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.””
— Jonathan Swift
“The tiny Lilliputians surmise that Gulliver's watch may be his god, because it is that which, he admits, he seldom does anything without consulting.””
— Jonathan Swift
“And he gave it for his opinion, "that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.””
— Jonathan Swift
“Difference in opinions has cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine.””
— Jonathan Swift
“This made me reflect, how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavor to do himself honor among those who are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him.””
— Jonathan Swift
“... a wife should be always a reasonable and agreeable companion, because she cannot always be young.””
— Jonathan Swift
“Judges... are picked out from the most dextrous lawyers, who are grown old or lazy, and having been biased all their lives against truth or equity, are under such a fatal necessity of favoring fraud, perjury and oppression, that I have known several of them to refuse a large bribe from the side where justice lay, rather than injure the faculty by doing any thing unbecoming their nature in office.””
— Jonathan Swift
