For most men, and most circumstances, pleasure --tangible material prosperity in this world --is the safest test of virtue. Progress has ever been through the pleasures rather than through the extreme sharp virtues, and the most virtuous have leaned to…

Quote by Samuel Butler

Topics: Love Quotes, Pleasure Quotes

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

Youth is like spring, an overpraised season

Youth is like spring, an overpraised season

The history of art is the history of revivals

The history of art is the history of revivals

Money is the last enemy that shall never be subdued. While there is flesh there...

Money is the last enemy that shall never be subdued. While there is flesh there...

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and seeing it...

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and seeing it...

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.

Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.

Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.

An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to...

An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to...

The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.

The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.

And so there is no God but has been in the loins of past gods.

And so there is no God but has been in the loins of past gods.

In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and...

In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and...

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting...

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting...

I am; therefore, I think.

I am; therefore, I think.

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

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

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

A drunkard would not give money to sober people. He said they would only eat...

A drunkard would not give money to sober people. He said they would only eat...

To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete...

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete...

A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened...

A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened...