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

Quote by Samuel Butler

Topics: Samuel Butler Quotes

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.

It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.

It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.

There is such a thing as doing good that evil may come.

There is such a thing as doing good that evil may come.

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which...

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which...

The Athanasian Creed is to me light and intelligible reading in comparison with much that...

The Athanasian Creed is to me light and intelligible reading in comparison with much that...

Authority intoxicates, And makes mere sots of magistrates; The fumes of it invade the brain,...

Authority intoxicates, And makes mere sots of magistrates; The fumes of it invade the brain,...

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is...

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is...

If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue.

If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue.

There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.

There is nothing so unthinkable as thought, unless it be the entire absence of thought.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit...

The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit...

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

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

What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be,...

What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be,...

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side...

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side...

The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating...

The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating...

In the midst of vice we are in virtue, and vice versa.

In the midst of vice we are in virtue, and vice versa.

There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as...

There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as...

Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure

Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure

Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you...

Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you...

To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish

To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish