413 Quotes by Samuel Butler

For as whipp'd tops and bandied balls,The learned hold, are animals;So horses they affirm to beMere engines made by geometry

Be virtuous and you will be vicious.

Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime.

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

Let every man be true and every god a liar.

There is no permanent absolute unchangeable truth; what we should pursue is the most convenient arrangement of our ideas.

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

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced.

The dead being the majority, it is natural that we should have more friends among them than among the living.