Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it,
so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late;
the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect:
like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee
when the discourse is changed, or the company parted;
or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine,
after the patient is dead.
Jonathan Swift, The Examiner No. XIV, November 1710
