The Note-Books of Samuel Butler

“Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.””

— Samuel Butler

“Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.””

— Samuel Butler

“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 Butler

“A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.””

— Samuel Butler

“You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.””

— Samuel Butler

“In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.””

— Samuel Butler

“We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them.””

— Samuel Butler

“Cuando muera, lo haré con la plena y segura esperanza de que no habrá resurrección, pero esa muerte me aportará una paz absoluta.””

— Samuel Butler