Samuel Butler

Neither have they hearts to stay, nor wit enough to run away.

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.

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

Every one is a genius, more or less. No one is so physically sound that no part of him will be even a little unsound, and no one is so diseased but that some part of him will be healthy — so no man is so mentally and morally sound, but that he will be in part both mad and wicked; and no man is so mad and wicked but he will be sensible and honourable in part. In like manner there is no genius who is not also a fool, and no fool who is not also a genius.

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

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor.

Find enough clever things to say, and you’re a Prime Minister; write them down and you’re a Shakespeare.

Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand — relax!

The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same kind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.

I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.

There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.

Love can often be misguided and do as much harm as good, but respect can do only good. It assumes that the other person’s stature is as large as one’s own, his rights as reasonable, his needs as important.

When you introduce a moral lesson, let it be brief.

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.

Ah! Sir, a boy’s being flogged is not so severe as a man’s having the hiss of the world against him.

The god of victory is said to be one-handed, but peace gives victory on both sides.