Samuel Butler

Let us eat and drink neither forgetting death unduly nor remembering it. The Lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc., and the less we think about it the better.

Logic is like the sword – those who appeal to it, shall perish by it.

Such as take lodgings in a head that’s to be let unfurnished.

It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.

Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.

God cannot alter the past, though historians can.

To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.

If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him.

Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better.

Nay, number itself in armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for, as Virgil saith, It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.

Syllables govern the world.

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

People sleep, and when they die they wake.

Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything… even when you can not foresee the outcome.

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything.

Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.

Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.