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Samuel Butler Quotes

The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.
Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.
All philosophies, if you ride them, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.
The course of true anything does not run smooth.
All progress is based on a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
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.
Truth is generally kindness, but where the two diverge and collide, kindness should override truth.
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.
Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Life is like playing the violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Logic is like the sword--those who appeal to it shall perish by it.
Logic is like the sword: those who appeal to it shall perish by it.
Life is not an exact science, it is an art.
Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.
All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.
To live is like love, all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
Man, unlike the animals, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it.
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
Loyalty is still the same, Whether it win or lose the game True as a dial to the sun, Although it be not shined upon.
An apology for the devil it must be remembered that we have heard only one side of the case God has written all the books.
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma, or want of dogma, that the danger lies.
He that is down can fall no lower.
God cannot alter the past, but historians can.
For truth is precious and divine Too rich a pearl for carnal swine.
I consider being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill.
To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.
The three most important parts a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money and his religious beliefs.
The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being good, clever, or amiable.
When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once.
Men should not try to overstrain their goodness more than any other faculty.
God is Love -- I dare say. But what a mischievous devil Love is
It does not matter much what a man hates provided he hates something.
It has beeen said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.
There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less of an exception to the general rule.
I do not mind lying but I hate inaccuracy.
I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds.
It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.
The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.