Samuel Butler

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.

Union may be strength, but it is mere blind brute strength unless wisely directed.

There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.

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

A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide.

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.

It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self-satisfaction, rather with a self-discontent which is the more intense because one’s own little core of egoistic sensibility is a supreme care.

Doing as others told me, I was blind. Coming when others called me, I was lost. Then I left everyone, myself as well. Then I found myself, myself as well.

There are innumerable questions to which the inquisitive mind can in this state receive no answer: Why do you and I exist? Why was this world created? Since it was to be created, why was it not created sooner?

I know of no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose.

No matter how hard the past is, we can always begin again.

People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.

They have a right to censure that have a heart to help: the rest is cruelty, not justice.

Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.

I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts the final wrench on his throat, will have enough compassion to give him one sweet cup of water.

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.

The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow.

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile – hoping it will eat him last.

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.

The only gift is a portion of thyself.