They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, 'Can he name a kitten?' — Samuel Butler Kitten Copy Share Image
People are lucky and unlucky...according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect. — Samuel Butler Lucky Copy Share Image
It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite… — Samuel Butler Evil Copy Share Image
Justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes. — Samuel Butler Crime Copy Share Image
Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden - not silence — Samuel Butler Silence Copy Share Image
The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them. — Samuel Butler Books Copy Share Image
He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still. — Samuel Butler Opinion Copy Share Image
Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them. — Samuel Butler Books Copy Share Image
Young as he was, his instinct told him that the best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go… — Samuel Butler Instinct Copy Share Image
The extremes of vice and virtue are alike detestable, and absolute virtue is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice… — Samuel Butler Absolutes Copy Share Image
Priests are not men of the world; it is not intended that they should be; and a University training is the one… — Samuel Butler Adapted Copy Share Image
It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable… — Samuel Butler Father Copy Share Image
The mistakes made by doctors are innumerable. They err habitually on the side of optimism as to treatment, of pessimism as to… — Samuel Butler Doctor Copy Share Image
All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it - and they do enjoy it as… — Samuel Butler Animal Copy Share Image
“There are two classes of people in this world, those who sin, and those who are sinned against; if a man must… — Samuel Butler World Sin Copy Share Image
Genius is no respecter of time, trouble, money or persons, the four things around which human affairs turn most persistently. — Samuel Butler Genius Copy Share Image
Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch a cold on overexposure. — Samuel Butler Cold Copy Share Image
The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is. — Samuel Butler Common Copy Share Image
When you've told someone that you've left them a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once. — Samuel Butler Decent Copy Share Image
To live is like to love - all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it. — Samuel Butler Instinct Copy Share Image
If a man knows not life which he hath seen, how shall he know death, which he hath not seen? — Samuel Butler Death Copy Share Image
People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy. — Samuel Butler Business Copy Share Image
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits. — Samuel Butler Autumn Copy Share Image
Sensible people get the greater part of their own dying done during their own lifetime — Samuel Butler Death Copy Share Image
The phrase 'unconscious humor' is the one contribution I have made to the current literature of the day. — Samuel Butler Books Copy Share Image
The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything. — Samuel Butler Able Copy Share Image
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words. — Samuel Butler Aphorism Copy Share Image
One who is proud of ancestry is like a turnip; there is nothing good of him but that which is underground — Samuel Butler Ancestry Copy Share Image
The Ancient Mariner would not have taken so well if it had been called The Old Sailor. — Samuel Butler Ancient Copy Share Image
A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore. — Samuel Butler Being bored Copy Share Image
This world is like Noah's Ark. In which few men but many beasts embark. — Samuel Butler Animals Copy Share Image
The extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west, become the same No Indian prince has to his palace -… — Samuel Butler Courage Copy Share Image
Men of Science. If they are worthy of the name they are indeed about God's path and about his bed and spying… — Samuel Butler Bed Copy Share Image
“It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can --it is perhaps because they can be useful to… — Samuel Butler Historians Copy Share Image
I really do not see much use in exalting the humble and meek; they do not remain humble and meek long when… — Samuel Butler Exalted Copy Share Image
“It stands to reason that he who would cure a moral ailment must be practically acquainted with it in all its bearings.” — Samuel Butler Character Copy Share Image
The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst… — Samuel Butler Health Copy Share Image
The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the… — Samuel Butler Art Copy Share Image
People are lucky and unlucky not according to what they get absolutely, but according to the ratio between what they get and… — Samuel Butler Lucky Copy Share Image
Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud. — Samuel Butler Appreciation Copy Share Image
