A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.
– Samuel Butler
The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.
– Samuel Butler
Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.
– Samuel Butler
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 man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
– Samuel Butler
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
– Samuel Butler
Prayers are to men as dolls are to children.
– Samuel Butler
The greatest 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.
– Samuel Butler
All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it.
– Samuel Butler
Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.
– Samuel Butler
Man, unlike animals, has never learned that the sole purpose in life is to enjoy it.
– Samuel Butler
Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.
– Samuel Butler
People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and seeing it practiced
– Samuel Butler
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.
– Samuel Butler
Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.
– Samuel Butler
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
– Samuel Butler
Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.
– Samuel Butler
Why should not Conscience have a vacation.
– Samuel Butler
Morality is the custom of one’s country and the current feeling of one’s peers.
– Samuel Butler
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule.
– Samuel Butler