A collection of thoughts and quotations by Samuel Butler on freedom, literature, writing, nature, happiness, friendship, God, atheist, poetry and life.
75 Thought-Provoking Samuel Butler Quotes That Will Change The Way You Think
Samuel Butler was a Victorian era English author who rose to prominence in the 19th century with his works, many of which challenged the deeply held views at the time. Butler studied at Shrewsbury School and then acquired a degree in the classics from Cambridge University in 1858. His father wanted him to be a clergyman but Butler did not want to go along that path and emigrated to New Zealand in order to get away from it all. That is how his literary career commenced and one of his earlier works was an autobiographical take on his life in New Zealand, titled ‘A First Year in Canterbury Settlement’. Butler had also written his view on Christianity in the book ‘The Fair Haven’. Butler’s most important work was the satirical novel ‘Erewhon’ that depicted a Utopian society and turned him into a well-known literary figure after its publication. His other great contribution was the English translation of Greek epics ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ into prose form. The below collection of Samuel Butler’s most famous quotes have been excerpted from his writings, books, prose and thoughts. We bring to you a collection of sayings and quotes by Samuel Butler on times, truth, inspiration, existence, logic, sword, rationalism, forgiveness, books and poems.
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.
Let us eat and drink neither forgetting death unduly nor remembering it. The Lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc., and the less we think about it the better.
Property, marriage, the law; as the bed to the river, so rule and convention to the instinct; and woe to him who tampers with the banks while the flood is flowing.
Samuel Butler
To do great work one must be very idle as well as very industrious.
Samuel Butler
It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can --it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.
In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.
Samuel Butler
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.
Samuel Butler
The world is naturally averse to all truth it sees or hears
but swallows nonsense and a lie with greediness and gluttony.
Samuel Butler
A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide.
Samuel Butler
Truth might be heroic, but it was not within the range of practical domestic politics.
Samuel Butler
There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.
Samuel Butler
Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
Samuel Butler
Young people have a marvellous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
Samuel Butler
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.
Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back upon, but it is not comfortable at the time, unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve the name.
Happiness and misery consist in a progression towards better or worse; it does not matter how high up or low down you are, it depends not on this, but on the direction in which you are tending.
It stands to reason that he who would cure a moral ailment must be practically acquainted with it in all its bearings.
Samuel Butler
If people who are in a difficulty will only do the first little reasonable thing which they can clearly recognize as reasonable, they will always find the next step more easy both to see and take.
