Samuel Butler

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

Life is one long process of getting tired.

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.

Christ: I dislike him very much. Still, I can stand him. What I cannot stand is the wretched band of people whose profession is to hoodwink us about him.

Evil is like water, it abounds, is cheap, soon fouls, but runs itself clear of taint.

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

In the scenery of spring, nothing is better, nothing worse; the flowering branches are; some long, some short.

The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in the Christian religion.

I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.

Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay to an author.

It is possible to be free and loving no matter what your circumstances.

Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.

Would not love see returning penitence afar off, and fall on its neck and kiss it?

Coal is a portable climate. It carries the heat of the tropics to Labrador and the polar circle; and it is the means of transporting itself whithersoever it is wanted. Watt and Stephenson whispered in the ear of mankind their secret, that a half-ounce of coal will draw two tons a mile, and coal carries coal, by rail and by boat, to make Canada as warm as Calcutta, and with its comfort brings its industrial power.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

We have not so good a right to hate any as our Friend.

If the desire to kill and the opportunity to kill came always together, who would escape hanging?

Our planet is being turned into a filthy and evil-smelling imperialist barrack.

Might, could, would – they are contemptible auxiliaries.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.