Quotes from Samuel Butler

It has been said that though God cannot alter the past historians can - it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.

A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those worth committing.

Peter remained on friendly terms with Christ notwithstanding Christ's having healed his mother-in-law.

The human intellect owes its superiority over that of the lower animals in great measure to the stimulus which alcohol has given imagination.

The advantage of doing one's praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.

Inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time. True inspiration always steals on a person; its importance not being fully recognized for some time.

Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world.

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every living organism to live beyond its income.

The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.

If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.

There is no bore like a clever bore.

The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is.

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

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, "Can he name a kitten?"

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children.

Mr. Tennyson has said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, but he wisely refrains from saying whether they are good or bad things.

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously.

If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.

God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch.

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God.