Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.
Samuel ButlerRead
Let man be true and every god a liar.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that one's own truth is more important than the divine or established beliefs that may be false.
Samuel Butler's statement emphasizes the importance of personal integrity and truthfulness over adherence to potentially deceptive or misleading religious or societal doctrines. It challenges individuals to prioritize their own understanding and honesty instead of blindly following external authority figures or concepts of divinity that may not be true.
Themes
TruthIntegrityBeliefsPhilosophySelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about moral values, one could cite this quote to emphasize the importance of personal conviction over societal norms.
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
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The deceitfulness of the heart of man appears in no one thing so much as this of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The subtlety of Satan appears in its height, in his managing persons with respect to this sin. And perhaps one reason may be that here he has most experience; he knows the way of its coming in; he is acquainted with the secret springs of it: it was his own sin. Experience gives vast advantage in leading souls, either in good or evil.
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It may be you fear more to deliver judgment upon me than I fear judgment.
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When the mask of self-righteousness has been torn from us and we stand stripped of all our accustomed defenses, we are candidates for God's generous grace.
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That saints will aid if men will call; For the blue sky bends over all!
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What is faith? If you believe something because you have evidence for it, or rational argument, that is not faith. So faith seems to be believing something despite the absence of evidence or rational argument for it.
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