The Note Books of Samuel Butler Quotes

“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

“To himself every one is an immortal: he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:death

“You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:powerfaith

“Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:friendshipman

“A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:friendshipmemoryforgetting

“A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:wordslanguage

“It has, I believe, been often remarked that a hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:nature

“Analogy points in this direction, and though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:reason

“Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it you are lost.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:workenemy

“Books are like imprisoned souls until some one takes them down from a shelf and reads them.”

― Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

topic:readingbooks