Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Samuel Butler Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Dec 4, 1835
  • Died: Jun 18, 1902

Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian-era English author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the Utopian satire Erewhon and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, The Way of All Flesh. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler made prose translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which remain in use to this day.

All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. business

You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it. faith

The Athanasian Creed is to me light and intelligible reading in comparison with much that now passes for science. science

A drunkard would not give money to sober people. He said they would only eat it, and buy clothes and send their children to school with it. money

Life is like music it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule. music

Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God. God

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

God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal. God & work

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

Brigands demand your money or your life women require both. money & women

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced. religion

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

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

What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be, I bet that my Redeemer liveth. faith

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

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

The history of art is the history of revivals. art & history

Theist and atheist: the fight between them is as to whether God shall be called God or shall have some other name. God

Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity? marriage

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. friendship & money

Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it. life

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

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

We shall never get people whose time is money to take much interest in atoms. money

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

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

All truth is not to be told at all times. truth

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

And so there is no God but has been in the loins of past gods. God

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

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. work

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

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself. fear

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing. knowledge

Let every man be true and every god a liar. God

Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children. funny

A skilful leech is better far, than half a hundred men of war. war

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. experience & learning

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

In law, nothing is certain but the expense. legal

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

Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. architecture, music & work

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

Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him. respect

Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness. work

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

If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death. death

The want of money is the root of all evil. money

Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. Whether it is or is not more efficacious I do not know. medical

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

Death is only a larger kind of going abroad. death

For truth is precious and divine, too rich a pearl for carnal swine. truth

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. best & God

Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning. life & morning

Women can stand a beating except when it is with their own weapons. women

God and the Devil are an effort after specialization and the division of labor. God

Life is not an exact science, it is an art. art, life & science

Self-preservation is the first law of nature. nature

God cannot alter the past, though historians can. God & history

The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. truth

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books. God

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

Faith - you can do very little with it, but you can do nothing without it. faith

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all. Valentine's Day

Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch a cold on overexposure. fear & truth

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

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

A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of influencing conduct. medical & power

Thanksgiving November 28, 2024

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. 32 quotes from William Blake

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For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful. And more truly for what I have not received. 2 other wisdom & wit from Storm Jameson

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To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. 73 quotes from Victor Hugo

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