Gulliverin Retket
1726
Gulliverin Retket
1726
Translated by J. A. (Juho Aukusti) Hollo
A satirical novel written in the early 18th century. This work follows the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon who embarks on a series of fantastical journeys to strange lands, each populated by peculiar inhabitants. Throughout these adventures, Swift explores themes of human nature, society, and politics through a lens of sharp wit and humor. The opening of ''Gulliverin retket'' introduces the titular character, Lemuel Gulliver, providing background on his early life, education, and motivations for travel. After being shipwrecked, Gulliver finds himself on the shores of Lilliput, a land inhabited by tiny people who capture and imprison him. As he navigates this new world, he begins to understand the absurdities of the societies he encounters, setting the stage for the satirical critiques of human behavior and governance that will unfold throughout his journeys.
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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
