Quotes By Samuel Butler

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.

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

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

The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.

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

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

Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. I you look at it to admire it, you are lost.

Christ was only crucified once and for a few hours. Think of the hundreds of thousands whom Christ has been crucifying in a quiet way ever since.

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it.

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

Men should not try to overstrain their goodness more than any other faculty, bodily or mental.

If people would dare to speak to one another unreservedly, there would be a good deal less sorrow in the world a hundred years hence.

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

Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

If I die prematurely I shall be saved from being bored to death at my own success.

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

The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.

A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.

Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.

Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.

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

In law, nothing is certain but the expense.

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

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

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

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

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

Be virtuous and you will be vicious.

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