413 Quotes by Samuel Butler

A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of influencing conduct.

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

Evil is like water, it abounds, is cheap, soon fouls, but runs itself clear of taint.

That vice pays homage to virtue is notorious; we call it hypocrisy

The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.

God and the Devil are an effort after specialization and the division of labor.

A lawyer's dream of Heaven: Every man reclaimed his own property at the resurrection, and each tried to recover it from all his forefathers.

The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.