Top 164 Quotes by Samuel Butler

One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is beaten, and to leave off fighting at once.

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.

Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.

Christ: I dislike him very much. Still, I can stand him. What I cannot stand is the wretched band of people whose profession is to hoodwink us about him.

To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

Faith - you can do very little with it, but you can do nothing without it.

When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence.

Let every man be true and every god a liar.

Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children.

Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.