A man should be just cultured enough to be able to look with suspicion upon culture at first, not second hand.

Quote by Samuel Butler

Topics: Samuel Butler Quotes

Women can stand a beating except when it is with their own weapons.

Women can stand a beating except when it is with their own weapons.

The phrase 'unconscious humor' is the one contribution I have made to the current literature...

The phrase 'unconscious humor' is the one contribution I have made to the current literature...

One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is...

One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is...

Happiness and misery depend not on how high up or low down you are -...

Happiness and misery depend not on how high up or low down you are -...

We think as we do, mainly because other people think so

We think as we do, mainly because other people think so

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and...

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and...

The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.

The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.

Friendship is like money, more easily made than kept.

Friendship is like money, more easily made than kept.

To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but...

To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but...

God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.

God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.

Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by...

Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by...

Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything...

Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything...

For every why he had a wherefore

For every why he had a wherefore

Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God.

Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God.

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money,...

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money,...

I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and...

I never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and...

Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything...

Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything...

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the...

The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the...