Samuel Butler

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

To know God better is only to realize how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all. I know not which is more childish to deny him, or define him.

Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.

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.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

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.

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

He has spent his life best who has enjoyed it most. God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more than is good for us.

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

Evil is like water, it abounds, is cheap, soon fouls, but runs itself clear of taint.

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.

If I die prematurely I shall be saved from being bored to death at my own success.

When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy, the only decent thing to do is die at once.

Our ideas are for the most part like bad sixpences, and we spend our lives trying to pass them on one another.

It is seldom very hard to do one's duty when one knows what it is, but it is often exceedingly difficult to find this out.

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

There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.

People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.