Samuel Butler Quotes

The only absolute morality is absolute stagnation.

There is no permanent absolute unchangeable truth; what we should pursue is the most convenient arrangement of our ideas.

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

In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.

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

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.

It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can --it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.

To do great work one must be very idle as well as very industrious.

Truth might be heroic, but it was not within the range of practical domestic politics.

There are orphanages, " he exclaimed to himself, "for children who have lost their parents--oh! why, why, why, are there no harbours of refuge for grown men who have not yet lost them?

If people who are in a difficulty will only do the first little reasonable thing which they can clearly recognize as reasonable, they will always find the next step more easy both to see and take.

Words are clothes that thoughts wear

We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.

I have never written on any subject unless I believed that the authorities on it were hopelessly wrong.

Peter remained on friendly terms with Christ notwithstanding Christ's having healed his mother-in-law.

Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back upon, but it is not comfortable at the time, unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve the name.

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

We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to them.

The world is naturally averse to all truth it sees or hears but swallows nonsense and a lie with greediness and gluttony.

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

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.

Mention but the word "divinity, " and our sense of the divine is clouded.

People are lucky and unlucky ... according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect.

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you but he will make a fool of himself too.

I keep my books at the British Museum and at Mudies.

Books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes.

I can generally bear the separation but I don't like the leave-taking.

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

Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.

Neither have they hearts to stay Nor wit enough to run away.

Every one should keep a mental wastepaper basket and the older he grows the more things he will consign to it-torn up to irrecoverable tatters.

It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.

The test of a good critic is whether he knows when and how to believe on insufficient evidence.

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

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

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

The tendency of modern science is to reduce proof to absurdity by continually reducing absurdity to proof.

There is one thing certain namely that we can have nothing certain therefore it is not certain that we can have nothing certain.

Faith is a kind of betting or speculation.

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

Whatso'er we perpetrate We do but row we are steered by fate.

Friendship is like money easier made than kept.

All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.

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

It does not matter much what a man hates provided he hates something.

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

It has been said that though God cannot alter the past historians can - it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every living organism to live beyond its income.

To live is like to love: all reason is against it and all healthy instinct is for it.

The public do not know enough to be experts yet know enough to decide between them.