413 Quotes by Samuel Butler

If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.

Papas and mammas sometimes ask young men whether their intentions are honourable toward their daughters. I think young men might occasionally ask papas and mammas whether their intentions are honourable before they accept invitations to houses where there are still unmarried daughters.

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.

A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.

Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.

Mention but the word "divinity," and our sense of the divine is clouded.

The world is naturally averse to all truth it sees or hears but swallows nonsense and a lie with greediness and gluttony.

Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.