Gulliver's Travels Lemuel Gulliver Quotes

Lemuel Gulliver

Quote 1

I said, "there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves. (4.5.11)

This "society of men" is lawyers. Gulliver thinks that all lawyers must be deceitful because they're paid to argue, and it has nothing to do with personal conviction. And the Master Horse agrees that it is a perversion of law to make it subject to things like money and private interest.

Lemuel Gulliver

Quote 2

"Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue, most mighty Emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose dominions extend five thousand blustrugs (about twelve miles in circumference) to the extremities of the globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men; whose feet press down to the centre, and whose head strikes against the sun; at whose nod the princes of the earth shake their knees; pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter: his most sublime majesty proposes to the man-mountain, lately arrived at our celestial dominions, the following articles, which, by a solemn oath, he shall be obliged to perform." (1.3.9)

This is the incredibly long introduction to the document that allows Gulliver his (limited) freedom in Lilliput. There are a couple of things that strike us about this: first off, it shows the restricted perspective of the Lilliputians. They think that twelve miles extends to the ends of the earth? Second, the incredibly exaggerated descriptions of the Emperor of Lilliput (whose head certainly does not hit the sun) indicates the way that written language can be used to flatter and deceive (compare this, with, say, the lack of any written language at all in Houyhnhnm Land). And last but not least, we get a small parody of courtly language; boy, does it take them a long time to get to the point.

Lemuel Gulliver

Quote 3

Whereupon I was at much pains to describe to him the use of money, the materials it was made of, and the value of the metals; "that when a Yahoo had got a great store of this precious substance, he was able to purchase whatever he had a mind to; the finest clothing, the noblest houses, great tracts of land, the most costly meats and drinks, and have his choice of the most beautiful females." (4.6.1)

Gulliver explains to the Master Horse what money is. The Master Horse has also observed that Houyhnhnm Land Yahoos are attracted to shiny rocks. This raises the question: how many of our social problems are human nature, and how many are the result of historical or environmental problems? Gulliver seems to imply elsewhere that greed is human nature, but that it's gotten a lot worse in recent times. Why?