Samuel Butler

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard only one side of the case; God has written all the books.

All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.

He that complies against his will is of the same opinion still.

Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.

Neither have they hearts to stay. Nor wit enough to run away.

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

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being good, clever, or amiable.

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

Logic is like the sword--those who appeal to it shall perish by it.

When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once.

The three most important parts a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money and his religious beliefs.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

All progress is based on a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.

He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most; God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more than is good for us.

The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.

I consider being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill.

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.

Man, unlike the animals, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it.

Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds.

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

Conscience is thoroughly well bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.

All philosophies, if you ride them, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.

The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is

There are two great rules of life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that everyone can in the end, get what he wants, if he only tries. That is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is, more or less, an exception to the rule.