“Every one should keep a mental wastepaper basket and the older he grows the more things he will consign to it -… — Samuel Butler Wastepaper Basket Copy Share Image
Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total… — Samuel Butler Abstinence Copy Share Image
Whereas, to borrow an illustration from mathematics, life was formerly an equation of, say, 100 unknown quantities, it is now one of… — Samuel Butler Equations Copy Share Image
It is our less conscious thoughts and our less conscious actions which mainly mould our lives and the lives of those who… — Samuel Butler Conscious Copy Share Image
“There are orphanages," he exclaimed to himself, "for children who have lost their parents--oh! why, why, why, are there no harbours of… — Samuel Butler Children Copy Share Image
“We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make… — Samuel Butler Easy Copy Share Image
Our own death is a premium which we must pay for the far greater benefit we have derived from the fact that… — Samuel Butler Benefits Copy Share Image
When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself… — Samuel Butler Doubt Copy Share Image
Those who have never had a father can at any rate never know the sweets of losing one. To most men the… — Samuel Butler Death Copy Share Image
When the water of a place is bad it is safest to drink none that has not been filtered through either the… — Samuel Butler Berries Copy Share Image
Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to… — Samuel Butler Atheism Copy Share Image
When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or… — Samuel Butler Atoms Copy Share Image
Flying. Whatever any other organism has been able to do man should surely be able to do also, though he may go… — Samuel Butler Able Copy Share Image
A sense of humour keen enough to show a man his own absurdities as well as those of other people will keep… — Samuel Butler Comedy Copy Share Image
The advantage of doing one's praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right… — Samuel Butler Advantage Copy Share Image
There is no permanent absolute unchangeable truth; what we should pursue is the most convenient arrangement of our ideas. — Samuel Butler Absolutes Copy Share Image
If there is any moral in Christianity, if there is anything to be learned from it, if the whole story is not… — Samuel Butler Christianity Copy Share Image
The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in… — Samuel Butler Bad health Copy Share Image
“No boy can resist being fed well by a good-natured and still handsome woman. Boys are very like nice dogs in this… — Samuel Butler Boys Copy Share Image
It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy - but he who has shown… — Samuel Butler Controversy Copy Share Image
Money is the last enemy that shall never be subdued. While there is flesh there is money or the want of money,… — Samuel Butler Brain 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… — Samuel Butler Books Copy Share Image
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all… — Samuel Butler Apology Copy Share Image
Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. Whether it is or is not more efficacious I do not know. — Samuel Butler Medical Copy Share Image
There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death. — Samuel Butler Affects Copy Share Image
Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; as true as a dial to the sun, although it… — Samuel Butler Football 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
A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of… — Samuel Butler Cleric Copy Share Image
Mr. Tennyson has said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, but he wisely refrains from saying… — Samuel Butler Bad thing 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 blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that… — Samuel Butler Blind Copy Share Image
“Everything matters more than we think it does, adn, at the same time, nothing matters so much as we think it does.… — Samuel Butler Matters Copy Share Image
