Quotes

“A man should be just cultured enough to be able to look with suspicion upon culture at first, not second hand.” Samuel Butler

“A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage - but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.” Samuel Butler

“A skilful leech is better far, than half a hundred men of war.” Samuel Butler

“All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.” Samuel Butler

“All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.” Samuel Butler

“Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.” Samuel Butler

“If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.” Samuel Butler

“If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.” Samuel Butler

“Letters are like wine; if they are sound they ripen with keeping. A man should lay down letters as he does a cellar of wine.” Samuel Butler

“Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.” Samuel Butler

“My main wish is to get my books into other people's rooms, and to keep other people's books out of mine.” Samuel Butler

“Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.” Samuel Butler

“One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is beaten, and to leave off fighting at once.” Samuel Butler

“Our ideas are for the most part like bad sixpences, and we spend our lives trying to pass them on one another.” Samuel Butler

“Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.” Samuel Butler

“The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Samuel Butler

“The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit of the doubt.” Samuel Butler

“The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything.” Samuel Butler

“The healthy stomach is nothing if it is not conservative. Few radicals have good digestions.” Samuel Butler

“The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.” Samuel Butler

“The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust.” Samuel Butler

“The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.” Samuel Butler

“The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.” Samuel Butler

“There is no bore like a clever bore.” Samuel Butler

“There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.” Samuel Butler

“There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.” Samuel Butler

“There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death.” Samuel Butler

“They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, 'Can he name a kitten?'” Samuel Butler

“When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy, the only decent thing to do is die at once.” Samuel Butler

“Women can stand a beating except when it is with their own weapons.” Samuel Butler