It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.

More from Jonathan Swift

• As blushing will sometimes make a whore pass for a virtuous woman, so modesty may make a fool seem a man of sense.
• May you live all the days of your life.
• When a true genius appears in this world, you will know him by this sign, that all the dunces are in confederacy against him.