Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.
Samuel ButlerRead
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is a continual learning process where we adapt and improve as we go.
This quote suggests that living life is akin to performing a complex task, such as playing the violin, in front of an audience without complete mastery of the skills required. It reflects the idea that individuals often learn and grow from their experiences as they navigate through challenges, highlighting the importance of adaptability and the journey of self-improvement.
Themes
LifeLearningAdventureGrowthAdaptation
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a graduation ceremony might use this quote to inspire students about the journey ahead.
More from Samuel Butler
All quotes βTo 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.
Samuel ButlerRead
Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.
Samuel ButlerRead
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
Samuel ButlerRead
Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
Samuel ButlerRead
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.
Samuel ButlerRead
Similar quotes
Life holds only one tragedy, ultimately: not to have been a saint.
Charles PeguyRead
Life took over 4 billion years to evolve into you, and you've about 70 more years to enjoy it. Don't just pursue happiness, catch it.
Eric IdleRead
The pain was quite extraordinary. And yet also weirdly welcome and restorative, bringing him news of his aliveness and his caughtness in a story larger than himself.
Jonathan FranzenRead
Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph EllisonRead
The wonder is that so many OCDs manage to live productive lives, just the same. They work, they eat (often not enough or too much, it's true), they go to the movies, they make love to their girlfriends and boyfriends, their wives and husbands... and all the time those birds are there, clinging to them and pecking away little bits of flesh.
Stephen KingRead
Cherish each hour of this day for it can NEVER return.
Og MandinoRead