413 Quotes by Samuel Butler

The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst his reputation.

Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use.

There is one class of mind that loves to lean on rules and definitions, and another that discards them as far as possible. A faddist will generally ask for a definition of faddism, and one who is not a faddist will be impatient of being asked to give one.

Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds

Whereas, to borrow an illustration from mathematics, life was formerly an equation of, say, 100 unknown quantities, it is now one of 99 only, inasmuch as memory and heredity have been shown to be one and the same thing.

How often do we not see children ruined through the virtues, real or supposed, of their parents?

An obstinate man does not hold opinions, but they hold him; for when he is once possessed with an error, it is, like a devil, only cast out with great difficulty.

The only absolute morality is absolute stagnation.

An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it. It should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes, or it may be found a little drafty.