Whereas, to borrow an illustration from mathematics, life was formerly an equation of, say, 100 unknown quantities, it is now one of 99 only, inasmuch as memory and heredity have been shown to be one and the same thing. — Samuel Butler Copy Share Image
I am the enfant terrible of literature and science. If I cannot, and I know I cannot, get the literary and scientific bigwigs to… — Samuel Butler Copy Share
If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason. — Samuel Butler Copy Share
All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. — Samuel Butler Copy Share
The advantage of doing one's praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places. — Samuel Butler Copy Share
“we must judge men not so much by what they, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to… — Samuel Butler Copy Share
If I die prematurely I shall be saved from being bored to death at my own success. — Samuel Butler Copy Share
Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. Whether it is or is not more efficacious I do not know. — Samuel Butler Copy Share
“Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently, and he lapsed… — Samuel Butler Copy Share
It is not sufficiently considered in the hour of exultation, that all human excellence is comparative; that no man performs much but in proportion… — Samuel Butler Copy Share
“The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.” — Samuel Butler Copy Share
