Every thing is what it is, and not another thing.

- Joseph Butler

But to us, probability is the very guide of life.

- Joseph Butler

Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food

- Joseph Butler

The first thought is often the best.

- Joseph Butler

Every man is to be considered in two capacities, the private and public; as designed to pursue his own interest, and likewise to contribute to the go…

- Joseph Butler

The satisfaction that accompanies good acts is itself not the motivation of the act; satisfaction is not the motive, but only the consequence.

- Joseph Butler

The love of liberty that is not a real principle of dutiful behavior to authority is as hypocritical as the religion that is not productive of a good…

- Joseph Butler

People habituate themselves to let things pass through their minds, as one may speak, rather than to think of them. Thus by use they become satisfied…

- Joseph Butler

Happiness does not consist in self-love.

- Joseph Butler