Samuel Butler

A genius can never expect to have a good time anywhere, if he is a genuine article, but America is about the last place in which life will be endurable at all for an inspired writer of any kind.

The thief. Once committed beyond a certain point he should not worry himself too much about not being a thief any more. Thieving is God’s message to him. Let him try and be a good thief.

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

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.

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

Every man’s work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.

How real is any of the past, being every moment revalued to make the present possible.

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, Sir, I am your most humble servant. You are not his most humble servant. You may say, These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times. You don’t mind the times … You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don’t think foolishly.

Sir, I do not call a gamester a dishonest man; but I call him an unsociable man, an unprofitable man. Gaming is a mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate good.

If thou art clean and warm, it is sufficient; for more doth but rob the Poor, and please the Wanton.

Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.

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.

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.

If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be attained.

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

The quieter you become, you more you are able to hear.

Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

When you place yourself in a position to help another, you will discover your greater capabilities.

Then spare the rod and spoil the child.

Every person is a God in embryo. Its only desire is to be born.