413 Quotes by Samuel Butler

Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

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

[P]oetry resembles metaphysics: one does not mind one's own, but one does not like anyone else's.

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

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

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

Words are clothes that thoughts wear

In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.

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