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"64 Samuel Butler Quotes & Sayings

      English     /     View profile
Born: 4 December 1835. Died: 18 June 1902 | Author | Novelist |

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

Friendship Like Money Easier
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To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.

Dead Die Everyone Going
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The great 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.

Dog Fool Great He
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Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Goes Instrument Learning Life
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Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

Fear Hearing Me Myself
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God cannot alter the past, though historians can.

Alter Cannot God Historians
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Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

Appearance Grateful Mirror Only
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A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.

Another Egg Hen Making
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I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

Hate Lying Mind
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Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.

Animal Eat Friendly He
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When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence.

About Ask Doubt Guide
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The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

Bore Bored Contemptible Even
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To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

Beauty Empire Give Happy
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Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.

Any Fool How Know
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All truth is not to be told at all times.
Times Truth
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Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.

Dew Flash Human Life
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Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

Argument Irony Neither Sarcasm
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Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.

Nobody Santa Shoots
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The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.

Books Just Oldest Only
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All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.

Animals Business Enjoy Except
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Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.

Art Conclusions Drawing Insufficient
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Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

First Law Nature Self-Preservation
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The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Bible May Nothing Truth
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An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

Apology Books Case Devil
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Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.
Aims Enjoy Learned Life
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If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death.

Death Life Must Neither
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Life is not an exact science, it is an art.

Art Exact Life Science
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Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.

Before Leap Like Look
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Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?

Because Excluded Felicity General
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Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch a cold on overexposure.

Catch Cold Fear Lest
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God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.

Fatal God His Own
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Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world.

Bona Doing Falls Ground
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We all like to forgive, and love best not those who offend us least, nor who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.

Best Done Easy Forgive
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Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.

Appeal Like Logic Perish
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Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.

Abstinence Condemns Good Half
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The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.

Conviction Man Nothing Serious
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People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.
Always Company Doing Enjoy
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People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced.

Christian Doubted Equally General
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The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is.

Common Lord Sense Shared
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A man should be just cultured enough to be able to look with suspicion upon culture at first, not second hand.

Able Culture Enough First
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There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.

Else Enough Fools Knave
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A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget.

Bad Cannot Does Forget
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In law, nothing is certain but the expense.
Certain Expense Law Nothing
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Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.

Embryo Life Living Man
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Life is one long process of getting tired.

Getting Life Long Process
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To live is like to love - all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.

Against Healthy Instinct Like
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If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.

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

Always Anything Architecture Else
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Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.
Idleness Men Sin Some
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Opinions have vested interests just as men have.

Interests Just Men Opinions
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Samuel Butler Quotes & Sayings