The Note Books of Samuel Butler Quotes

“Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:hidingtruthfear

“To live is like to love—all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:lovelifereason

“We all like to forgive, and we all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:loveforgiveness

“Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:lifemusicfeeling

“If life must not be taken too seriously—then so neither must death.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:lifedeathimportance

“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:lifeart

“Life is one long process of getting tired.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:life

“If I die prematurely, at any rate I shall be saved from being bored by my own success.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:deathsuccessboredom

“The dead should be judged as we judge criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit of a doubt.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:deathdoubtjudgement

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

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:deathforgetting