Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler
Samuel Butlerwas an iconoclastic Victorian-era English author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the Utopian satire Erewhon and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, The Way of All Flesh. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler made prose translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which remain in use to this day...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth4 December 1835
I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and was at the same time readable.
For truth is precious and divine, too rich a pearl for carnal swine.
Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?
Sensible people get the greater part of their own dying done during their own lifetime
Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.
The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit of the doubt.
If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.
Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule.
All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.
The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.
You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.
Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.