Quotes from Samuel Butler

Always eat grapes downward - that is eat the best grapes first; in this way there will be none better left on the bunch, and each grape will seem good down to the last. If you eat the other way, you will not have a good grape in the lot.

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

Authority intoxicates, And makes mere sots of magistrates; The fumes of it invade the brain, And make men giddy, proud and vain: By this the fool commands the wise, The noble-with the base complies, The sot assumes the rule of wit, And cowards make t

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.

I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

The extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west, become the same No Indian prince has to his palace - More followers than a thief to the gallows.

The public do not know enough to be experts, yet know enough to decide between them.

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.

There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.

A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like a turnip. There is nothing good of him but that which is underground.

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself

Oaths are but words, and words but wind.

A pair of lovers are like sunset and sunrise: there are such things every day but we very seldom see them.

It is far safer to know too little than too much. People will condemn the one, though they will resent being called upon to exert themselves to follow the other.

When I am dead I would rather people thought me better than I was instead of worse; but if they think me worse, I cannot help it and, if it matters at all, it will matter more to them than to me.

To try to live in posterity is to be like an actor who leaps over the footlights and talks to the orchestra.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyse, but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.

Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so.

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

Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.

The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow. So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered.

People are lucky and unlucky not according to what they get absolutely, but according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect.

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.