Samuel Butler

When the water of a place is bad it is safest to drink none that has not been filtered through either the berry of a grape, or else a tub of malt. These are the most reliable filters yet invented.

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better.

Youth is like spring, an over-praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.

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

The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow. So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself.

If you have inner peace, nobody can force you to be a slave to the outer reality.

There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes.

I have lived some thirty-odd years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.

You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.

Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.

Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.

A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.

Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.

There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. Friendship loves a free air, and will not be fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.

The Humble, Meek, Merciful, Just, Pious and Devout Souls, are everywhere of one religion; and when Death has taken off the Mask, they will know one another, though the divers Liveries they wear here make them Strangers.

In his private heart no man much respects himself.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.

The pleasure we feel in music springs from the obedience which is in it.

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.

The English never draw a line without blurring it.