Samuel Butler

Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

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

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.

For Wealth are all things that conduce, to one’s destruction or their use. A standard both to buy and sell, all things from heaven down to hell.

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.

City life is millions of people being lonesome together.

Pain is less subject than pleasure to careless expression.

The wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.

I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand.

Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs.

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it.

It takes two to speak truth – one to speak, and another to hear.

Nations! What are nations? Tartars! and Huns! and Chinamen! Like insects they swarm. The historian strives in vain to make them memorable. It is for want of a man that there are so many men. It is individuals that populate the world.

Self-command is the main discipline.

You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.

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

Your fingers caress my heart strings, shaping a silent sonnet in notes of love. Transcending space and time, bathing the ether in perfect harmony.