Samuel Butler

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.

A virtue to be serviceable must, like gold, be alloyed with some commoner, but more durable alloy.

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

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

Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it be not shined upon.

What is it they want from a man that they didn’t get from his work? What do they expect? What is there left of him when he’s done his work? What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What’s left of the man when the work’s done but a shambles of apology.

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

I do not hesitate to read all good books in translations. What is really best in any book is translatable – any real insight or broad human sentiment.

Any 20 year-old who isn’t a liberal doesn’t have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn’t a conservative doesn’t have a brain.

Very few people can afford to be poor.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

Always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

Although the road is never ending, take a step and keep walking, do not look fearfully into the distance…on the path let the heart be your guide for the body is hesitant and full of fear.