For most men, and most circumstances, pleasure --tangible material prosperity in this world --is the safest test of virtue. Progress has ever been through the pleasures rather than through the extreme sharp virtues, and the most virtuous have leaned to excess rather than to asceticism.
Samuel Butler
Related I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES Most men would rather be shot through with a broad-headed arrow than be described by you. NEAL STEPHENSON Most people would rather jump through rings of fire than give a speech. JEFFREY BENJAMIN For the most time I've followed instinct rather than intelligence, and this has resulted in a modicu... RUSKIN BOND Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets. LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH Using archaeological and anatomical science rather than artistic interpretation makes this the most ... JEAN CLAUDE Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason. THOMAS AQUINAS Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passi... ALEXANDER HAMILTON It is through this cultural life rather than through experimental encounter in a laboratory that we ... HUGH ALDERSEY-WILLIAMS The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than c... BERTRAND RUSSELL The world has to learn that the actual pleasure derived from material things is of rather low qualit... OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES The current economic struggles are merely a result of poor decisions; most importantly the decision ... TRAVIS J HEDRICK For two thousand years or more man has been subjected to a systematic effort to transform him into a... NORMAN O. BROWN The most important job I'll ever have is spelled D-A-D. MIKE PENCE Through this same man and me hath all this war been wrought, and the death of the most noblest knigh... THOMAS MALORY Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated... SAMUEL BUTLER The root of almost every schism and heresy from which the Christian Church has suffered, has been be... JOHN RUSKIN Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. GEORGE R.R. MARTIN Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for... FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for... FRANKLIN ADAMS Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for... FRANKLIN P. ADAMS The most reliable way of having prosperity is through giving SUNDAY ADELAJA The most extreme individuals and factions in Islamic countries are now more motivated than ever to k... JOHN OLVER Since the Renaissance, a concept called 'progress' has been baked into our society. Progress... SETH SHOSTAK I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; f... GEORGE MACDONALD I find that most men would rather have their bellies opened for five hundred dollars than have a too... MARTIN H. FISCHER The Christian religion finds expression thus, in the love of those who love Christ, more comprehensi... MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through di... OSCAR WILDE Gaiety is one of the most important elements I brought to fashion. I brought it through color. EMILIO PUCCI i know im not the girl you wanted. not the one you want to hear from. but what you see is what you g... SIMI GREWAL Everything I've ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to... TONI MORRISON She was cold by nature, self-love predominating over passion; rather than being virtuous, she prefer... ÉMILE ZOLA The bulls still appear to have the most ammunition at the moment and seem set to test $600 sooner ra... JAMES MOORE The superstitious, who know how to reprove vices rather than how to teach virtues, and who strive, n... BARUCH SPINOZA Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through d... OSCAR WILDE One of the most obvious reasons to start using timber rather than concrete is that it's the one ... MAGNUS LARSSON To get the most out of a life's journey, one has to positively live through its humbling and gloriou... WAYNE CHIRISA But miserable most, to love unloved? This you should pity rather than despise. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets.... LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH Most of the people who get sent to die in wars are young men who've got a lot of energy and would pr... ALAN MOORE They'd never been lovers, of course, not in the physical sense. But they'd been lovers as most of us... GREGORY MAGUIRE Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic. EDWARD DE BONO It is more difficult to undermine faith than knowledge, love succumbs to change less than to respect... ADOLF HITLER We have no reason to think that climate change is harmful if you look at the world as a whole. Most ... FREEMAN DYSON An excess of modesty is in fact an excess of pride, and more hurtful to the individual, and less adv... WILLIAM HAZLITT I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being--forgive me--rather cleverer than most men, my mis... J.K. ROWLING This election was the most expensive, the most divisive and most bitter campaign [in recent history]... BILL PLANTE The worthiest man to be known, and for a pattern to be presented to the world, he is the man of whom... MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE I would rather wear honest tears than the most beautiful and elaborately faked smile. TYLER KNOTT GREGSON Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than ... TACITUS The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous JAWAHARLAL NEHRU The being who, for most men, is the source of the most lively, and even, be it said, to the shame of... CHARLES BAUDELAIRE The being who, for most men, is the source of the most lively, and even, be it said, to the shame of... CHARLES BAUDELAIRE Katniss should have the most reasons to hate, having been sent into the arena not once, but twice. B... LEAH WILSON It's the most embarrassing thing I've ever been through, LARRY PHILLIPS Less than one percent of U.S. college students attend Ivy League schools, and these students don'... SEBASTIAN THRUN Thus, in a sense, mathematics has been most advanced by those who distinguished themselves by intuit... FELIX KLEIN Most times and in most circumstances, what hinders real progress is never anything big, but the smal... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH And we owe science to the combined energies of individual men of genius, rather than to any tendency... CHAUNCEY WRIGHT Most who have been looking at the fourth quarter view that as a blip rather than a trend and expect ... EDWARD LAZEAR It may be the most misunderstood shot of all. I play the uphill shot with a square clubface (rather ... TOM WATSON This is the most careful analysis of the data up to the most current time frame that exists anywhere... CHERYL HEALTON Most people would rather give than get affection. ARISTOTLE Most people would rather give than get affection. ARISTOTLE Most people would rather get than give affection ARISTOTLE More and more, we're used to taking things in through the eyes rather than through the ears, and... DANIEL BARENBOIM The most important reason for rising costs is that we are so good at developing new ways to diagnose... ALAN GARBER My driving, I've been accused of not being the best, most safest driver. MATT DILLON 2016 has proven to be the year where the most forward-thinking financial institutions are actually u... CHRIS LARSEN Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the worl... ERNEST HEMINGWAY Ses’ach L’ru!” Came the slightly muffled chorus. This was Ruminarii for ‘Hail the Captain.�... CHRISTINA ENGELA Progress celebrates victories over nature. Progress makes purses out of human skin. When people were... KARL KRAUS People want the here and now, rather than the there and after; as most are living in the where and w... ANTHONY LICCIONE May I never neither turn left nor turn right in my journey of life, but may I go straight to Christ ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH The U.S.-China relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. MAX BAUCUS Virtue and taste are nearly the same, for virtue is little more than active taste, and the most deli... ANN RADCLIFFE Friendship is a double-edged sword one side it can be great and true but the other side it spells be... GARY F EVANS... We have a very friendly relationship with Japan and we've wanted to resolve this through the negotia... ED LOYD Without question, the Red Ryder BB gun is the most important gun in the history of American weaponry... TED NUGENT Helpless, unknown, and unremembered, most human beings, however sensitive, idealistic, intelligent, ... RALPH HARPER Most people would rather die than think: many do. BERTRAND RUSSELL The best news in this year's report is the significant decline in cigarette smoking, not just becaus... ETHAN NADELMANN We have come out of the time when obedience, the acceptance of discipline, intelligent courage and r... ERNEST HEMINGWAY The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and ... MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and ... MICHELANGELO The most important thing for South Africans is that whatever its value, the rand remain stable rathe... IAN DAVIDSON Rather than preach the word through the word,preach the word through charity. DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) A person who is totally dedicated to own family can think merely about the money and materials for a... ANUJ SOMANY Rather than dull our consciences to the unmitigated violence of abortion, the passage of time has on... CHRIS SMITH Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues. NAPOLéON BONAPARTE Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through di... OSCAR WILDE Praise from the common people is generally false, and rather follows the vain than the virtuous. SIR FRANCIS BACON It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Most of us must learn to love people and use things rather than loving things and using people. ROY T. BENNETT I made a conscious decision back then that I would rather be the best actress who ever lived than th... SALLY KIRKLAND Why be an ostrich? MARGARET MITCHELL Most often people seek in life occasions for persisting in their opinions rather than for educating ... ANDRé GIDE
More Samuel Butler
People are lucky and unlucky not according to what they get absolutely, but according to the ratio b... SAMUEL BUTLER Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it. SAMUEL BUTLER To live is like to love - all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it. SAMUEL BUTLER If I die prematurely I shall be saved from being bored to death at my own success. SAMUEL BUTLER The only living works are those which have drained much of the author's own life into them. SAMUEL BUTLER Self-preservation is the first law of nature. SAMUEL BUTLER A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg. SAMUEL BUTLER Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. SAMUEL BUTLER The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance. SAMUEL BUTLER When you've told someone that you've left them a legacy the only decent thing to do is to di... SAMUEL BUTLER The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anyth... SAMUEL BUTLER Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them ... SAMUEL BUTLER Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. SAMUEL BUTLER The advantage of doing one's praising to oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in t... SAMUEL BUTLER I went to the Bach Choir concert and heard Mozart's Requiem. I did not rise warmly to it. Then I hea... SAMUEL BUTLER It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of r... SAMUEL BUTLER The money men make lives after them. SAMUEL BUTLER The want of money is the root of all evil. SAMUEL BUTLER All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. SAMUEL BUTLER A lawyers dream of heaven; every man reclaimed his property at the resurrection, and each tried to r... SAMUEL BUTLER In law, nothing is certain but the expense. SAMUEL BUTLER People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is one long process of getting tired. SAMUEL BUTLER Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. SAMUEL BUTLER A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage -- but they are also no less invalid... SAMUEL BUTLER A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does... SAMUEL BUTLER When the righteous man truth away from his righteousness that he hath committed and doeth that which... SAMUEL BUTLER It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all. SAMUEL BUTLER Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance. SAMUEL BUTLER The only living works are those which have drained much of the author's own life into them. SAMUEL BUTLER Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him. SAMUEL BUTLER We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the... SAMUEL BUTLER Neither irony or sarcasm is argument. SAMUEL BUTLER Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it, people, to express their regret, will... SAMUEL BUTLER There is but one step from the Academy to the Fad. SAMUEL BUTLER The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way. SAMUEL BUTLER I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy. SAMUEL BUTLER Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging h... SAMUEL BUTLER Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. SAMUEL BUTLER To die is but to leave off dying and do the thing once for all. SAMUEL BUTLER The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit of the... SAMUEL BUTLER There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death. SAMUEL BUTLER What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be, I bet that my Redeemer l... SAMUEL BUTLER You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it. SAMUEL BUTLER Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be b... SAMUEL BUTLER Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God. SAMUEL BUTLER If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wa... SAMUEL BUTLER We all like to forgive, and love best not those who offend us least, nor who have done most for us, ... SAMUEL BUTLER There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon. SAMUEL BUTLER Eating is touch carried to the bitter end. SAMUEL BUTLER The healthy stomach is nothing if it is not conservative. Few radicals have good digestions. SAMUEL BUTLER Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so. SAMUEL BUTLER Youth is like spring, an over-praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. A... SAMUEL BUTLER There are two great rules of life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every... SAMUEL BUTLER I believe that he was really sorry that people would not believe he was sorry that he was not more s... SAMUEL BUTLER Life, they urge, would be intolerable if men were to be guided in all they did by reason and reason ... SAMUEL BUTLER If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason. SAMUEL BUTLER The public do not know enough to be experts, but know enough to decide between them. SAMUEL BUTLER In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved. SAMUEL BUTLER It is tact that is golden, not silence. SAMUEL BUTLER Silence is not always tact, but it is tact that is golden, not silence. SAMUEL BUTLER All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others. SAMUEL BUTLER From a worldly point of view, there is no mistake so great as that of being always right. SAMUEL BUTLER Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children. SAMUEL BUTLER When the water of a place is bad it is safest to drink none that has not been filtered through eithe... SAMUEL BUTLER Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated... SAMUEL BUTLER The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds. SAMUEL BUTLER The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religi... 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 ... SAMUEL BUTLER Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. SAMUEL BUTLER The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to ap... SAMUEL BUTLER Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it b... SAMUEL BUTLER One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is beaten, and to leave off fightin... SAMUEL BUTLER Logic is like the sword SAMUEL BUTLER All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond it... SAMUEL BUTLER Everyone should keep a mental wastepaper basket, and the older he grows, the more things will he pro... SAMUEL BUTLER The clergyman is expected to be a kind of human Sunday. 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 A hen is only a egg's way of making another egg. SAMUEL BUTLER To himself everyone is an immortal. He may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that ... SAMUEL BUTLER I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obl... SAMUEL BUTLER The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is ... SAMUEL BUTLER Opinions have vested interests just as men have. SAMUEL BUTLER The world will only, in the end, follow those who have despised as well as served it. SAMUEL BUTLER Compound for sins they are inclined to by damning those they have no mind to. SAMUEL BUTLER The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he no... SAMUEL BUTLER A skilful leech is better far, than half a hundred men of war. SAMUEL BUTLER Neither have they hearts to stay, nor wit enough to run away. SAMUEL BUTLER Every one is a genius, more or less. No one is so physically sound that no part of him will be even ... SAMUEL BUTLER A genius can never expect to have a good time anywhere, if he is a genuine article, but America is a... SAMUEL BUTLER God cannot alter the past, but historians can. SAMUEL BUTLER Heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women. Hell is the work of prigs, pedants and pro... SAMUEL BUTLER Letters are like wine; if they are sound they ripen with keeping. A man should lay down letters as h... SAMUEL BUTLER Those who have never had a father can at any rate never know the sweets of losing one. To most men t... SAMUEL BUTLER For every why he had a wherefore. SAMUEL BUTLER Then spare the rod and spoil the child. SAMUEL BUTLER People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it ... SAMUEL BUTLER If there is any moral in Christianity, if there is anything to be learned from it, if the whole stor... SAMUEL BUTLER Such as take lodgings in a head that's to be let unfurnished. SAMUEL BUTLER An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when intr... SAMUEL BUTLER Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions. SAMUEL BUTLER The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore. SAMUEL BUTLER Birth and death are so closely related that one could not destroy either without destroying the othe... SAMUEL BUTLER It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy -- but he who has s... SAMUEL BUTLER Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he... SAMUEL BUTLER It is immoral to get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache came f... SAMUEL BUTLER He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still. SAMUEL BUTLER Science, after all, is only an expression for our ignorance of our own ignorance. SAMUEL BUTLER A man should be just cultured enough to be able to look with suspicion upon culture at first, not se... SAMUEL BUTLER The thief. Once committed beyond a certain point he should not worry himself too much about not bein... SAMUEL BUTLER The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously. SAMUEL BUTLER The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. SAMUEL BUTLER Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it. SAMUEL BUTLER Union may be strength, but it is mere blind brute strength unless wisely directed. SAMUEL BUTLER The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. SAMUEL BUTLER The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds. SAMUEL BUTLER He that complies against his will, Is of his own opinion still. SAMUEL BUTLER Spontaneity is only a term for man's ignorance of the gods SAMUEL BUTLER To be at all is to be religious more or less SAMUEL BUTLER Logic is like the sword--those who appeal to it shall perish by it. SAMUEL BUTLER The extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west, become the same No Indian prince has to his ... SAMUEL BUTLER One who is proud of ancestry is like a turnip; there is nothing good of him but that which is underg... SAMUEL BUTLER A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his property at the resurrection, and each tried to ... SAMUEL BUTLER The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule. SAMUEL BUTLER We payt a person the complement of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is the art of drawing sufficent conclusions from insufficient premises. SAMUEL BUTLER 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all. SAMUEL BUTLER Independence is essential for permanent but fatal to immediate success. SAMUEL BUTLER All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it. -Samuel Butler. SAMUEL BUTLER The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance. SAMUEL BUTLER The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, but the unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to... SAMUEL BUTLER 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. SAMUEL BUTLER Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. SAMUEL BUTLER Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden, not silence. SAMUEL BUTLER Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature. SAMUEL BUTLER When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once. SAMUEL BUTLER Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds... SAMUEL BUTLER All philosophies, if you ride them, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others. SAMUEL BUTLER Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it. SAMUEL BUTLER Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and des... SAMUEL BUTLER People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or a... SAMUEL BUTLER God cannot alter the past, though historians can. SAMUEL BUTLER Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything els... SAMUEL BUTLER Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning. SAMUEL BUTLER Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character. SAMUEL BUTLER The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that yo... SAMUEL BUTLER We shall never get people whose time is money to take much interest in atoms. SAMUEL BUTLER Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely re... SAMUEL BUTLER Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only. SAMUEL BUTLER Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. Whether it is or is not more efficaci... SAMUEL BUTLER Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent... SAMUEL BUTLER We are not won by arguments that we can analyse but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the m... SAMUEL BUTLER Christ was only crucified once and for a few hours. Think of the hundreds of thousands whom Christ h... SAMUEL BUTLER A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing. SAMUEL BUTLER It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy - but he who has sh... SAMUEL BUTLER A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's di... SAMUEL BUTLER A drunkard would not give money to sober people. He said they would only eat it, and buy clothes and... SAMUEL BUTLER In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and devise schemes for satisfyin... SAMUEL BUTLER Words are clothes that thoughts wear SAMUEL BUTLER The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is SAMUEL BUTLER The three most important parts a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money and his religiou... SAMUEL BUTLER All progress is based on a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its ... SAMUEL BUTLER There are two great rules of life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every... 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 Quoth Hudibras, Friend Ralph, thou hast Outrun the constable at last SAMUEL BUTLER