Samuel Butler

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.

Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.

Opinions have vested interests just as men have.

A man is related to all nature.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

Artists must be sacrificed to their art.

If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.

Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted. He lived happily ever after.

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.

It’s like something shifted when I spoke to you, I can’t even put words to it. This sense of gentle peace, space, lightness, freedom. The realization that the longing I carried for so long, that pain was not about him all along. It was the yearning to return to that place from which, once upon a time, we all came.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.

I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.

If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

Power doesn’t corrupt people; people corrupt power.

Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.

There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

It’s powerful to have strong men but what does that strength mean?