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 draughty.


Samuel Butler

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Eating is touch carried to the bitter end.
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All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it. -Samuel Butler.
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SAMUEL BUTLER
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SAMUEL BUTLER
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being good, clever, or amiable.
SAMUEL BUTLER
A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.
SAMUEL BUTLER
It does not matter much what a man hates provided he hates something.
SAMUEL BUTLER
If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Men should not try to overstrain their goodness more than any other faculty.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Life is like playing the violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Logic is like the sword: those who appeal to it shall perish by it.
SAMUEL BUTLER
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has wri...
SAMUEL BUTLER
He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most; God will take care that we do not enjoy it any m...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man ma...
SAMUEL BUTLER
All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.
SAMUEL BUTLER
It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as tr...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Neither have they hearts to stay. Nor wit enough to run away.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises
SAMUEL BUTLER
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised t...
SAMUEL BUTLER
I consider being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill.
SAMUEL BUTLER
There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.
SAMUEL BUTLER
For truth is precious and divine, too rich a pearl for carnal swine.
SAMUEL BUTLER
It is our less conscious thoughts and our less conscious actions which mainly mould our lives and th...
SAMUEL BUTLER
There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a tr...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Rare virtues are like rare plants or animals, things that have not been able to hold their own in th...
SAMUEL BUTLER
A virtue to be serviceable must, like gold, be alloyed with some commoner, but more durable alloy.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Though wisdom cannot be gotten for gold, still less can be gotten without it.
SAMUEL BUTLER
For Wealth are all things that conduce, to one's destruction or their use. A standard both to buy an...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, i...
SAMUEL BUTLER
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard only one side of the case; God ha...
SAMUEL BUTLER
The wish to spread those opinions that we hold conducive to our own welfare is so deeply rooted in ...
SAMUEL BUTLER
To swallow gudgeons ere they're catched, And count their chickens ere they're hatched
SAMUEL BUTLER
People are lucky and unlucky...according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been ...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat; Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate
SAMUEL BUTLER