Samuel Butler Quotes

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyse but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.

Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

In the midst of vice we are in virtue, and vice versa.

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.

Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world.

If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.

It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.

The healthy stomach is nothing if it is not conservative. Few radicals have good digestions.

From a worldly point of view, there is no mistake so great as that of being always right.

People are lucky and unlucky not according to what they get absolutely, but according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect.

Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use.

The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.

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

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

I really do not see much use in exalting the humble and meek; they do not remain humble and meek long when they are exalted.

To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.

Evil is like water, it abounds, is cheap, soon fouls, but runs itself clear of taint.

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

Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.

If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him.

Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.

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

He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most. God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more than is good for us.

Money is the last enemy that shall never be subdued. While there is flesh there is money or the want of money, but money is always on the brain so long as there is a brain in reasonable order.

Those who have never had a father can at any rate never know the sweets of losing one. To most men the death of his father is a new lease of life.

The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst his reputation.

Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.

The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.

The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is.

[P]oetry resembles metaphysics: one does not mind one's own, but one does not like anyone else's.

We all like to forgive, and love best not those who offend us least, nor who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.

Mr. Tennyson has said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, but he wisely refrains from saying whether they are good or bad things.

To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

The sinews of art and literature, like those of war, are money.

Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.

God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch.

Christ: I dislike him very much. Still, I can stand him. What I cannot stand is the wretched band of people whose profession is to hoodwink us about him.

Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.

Morality is the custom of one's country and the current feeling of one's peers.

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

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.

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

Let man be true and every god a liar.