Samuel Butler quotes

“There is no bore like a clever bore.”

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

“When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy, the only decent thing to do is die at once.”

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

“Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.”

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

“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.”

— Samuel Butler

“Death is only a larger kind of going abroad.”

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

“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

“He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.”

— Samuel Butler

“In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and devise schemes for satisfying the Irish nation.”

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

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

— Samuel Butler

“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

“It is our less conscious thoughts and our less conscious actions which mainly mould our lives and the lives of those who spring from us.”

— Samuel Butler

“It is seldom very hard to do one's duty when one knows what it is, but it is often exceedingly difficult to find this out.”

— Samuel Butler

“It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.”

— Samuel Butler

“Justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.”

— Samuel Butler