Samuel Butler Quotes

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Samuel Butler

Profession : Poet

Birth : December 4, 1835

Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.

Samuel Butler

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

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

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.

Samuel Butler

People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

In law, nothing is certain but the expense.

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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.

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

Samuel Butler

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

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.

Samuel Butler