Samuel Butler Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

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

  Samuel Butler

  Morning, Lightning, Dew

  91 Copy quote

• 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

  Vices, Use, Half

  Samuel Butler (2012). “The Way of All Flesh”, p.239, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• The Ancient Mariner would not have taken so well if it had been called The Old Sailor.

  Samuel Butler

  Taken, Sailor, Ancient

  Samuel Butler (2008). “The Note-books of Samuel Butler: Easyread Comfort Edition”, p.49, ReadHowYouWant.com

  7 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Looks, Leap, Reap

  Samuel Butler, Samuel Johnson (1807). “Poetical works: With the life of the author”, p.217

  8 Copy quote

• A virtue to be serviceable must, like gold, be alloyed with some commoner, but more durable alloy.

  Samuel Butler

  Gold, Virtue, Commoners

  Samuel Butler (2016). “The Way of All Flesh”, p.75, Samuel Butler

  25 Copy quote

• Let us eat and drink neither forgetting death unduly nor remembering it. The Lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc., and the less we think about it the better.

  Samuel Butler

  Thinking, Etc, Remember

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks: Selections Edited by Geoffrey Keynes and Brian Hill”

  7 Copy quote

• Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

  Samuel Butler

  Sarcastic, Sarcasm, Irony

  11 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Butler

  Money, Order, Long

  Samuel Butler (2014). “The Notebooks of Samuel Butler”, p.57, The Floating Press

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Butler

  Inspirational, Education, Fall

  Samuel Butler (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Butler (Illustrated)”, p.4163, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Men, Cold, Should

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Samuel Butler's notebooks”

  24 Copy quote

• A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his property at the resurrection, and each tried to recover it from all his forefathers.

  Samuel Butler

  Funny, Dream, Humorous

  Further Extracts from Notebooks (1934) p. 27

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Butler

  Funny, Sweet, Father

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks”

  53 Copy quote

• There is no bore like a clever bore.

  Samuel Butler

  Clever, Bores

  Samuel Butler (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Butler (Illustrated)”, p.4400, Delphi Classics

  11 Copy quote

• 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

  Wine, Men, Sound

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks: Selections Edited by Geoffrey Keynes and Brian Hill”

  7 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Religion, Lasts, Witch

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks”

  17 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Writing, Cat, Men

  "The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (Part VII: On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books)". Book edited by Henry Festing Jones, 1917.

  7 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Wise, Father, Pregnancy

  Samuel Butler (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Butler (Illustrated)”, p.4176, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Men, Religion, Development

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks”

  5 Copy quote

• There is no true gracefulness which is not epitomized goodness.

  Samuel Butler

  Goodness, Gracefulness

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks: Selections Edited by Geoffrey Keynes and Brian Hill”

  7 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Men, Trying, Goodness

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Notebooks”

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Butler

  Honesty, Life And Love, Years

  Samuel Butler (2016). “The Way of All Flesh”, p.165, Samuel Butler

  9 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Running, Evil, Water

  Samuel Butler (2008). “The Note-books of Samuel Butler: Easyread Comfort Edition”, p.285, ReadHowYouWant.com

  10 Copy quote

• Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.

  Samuel Butler

  Book, Writing, Want

  10 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Butler

  Weapons

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Samuel Butler's notebooks”

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Butler

  Care, Enjoy, Gods Will

  Samuel Butler (2016). “The Way of All Flesh”, p.73, Samuel Butler

  8 Copy quote

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