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We are not won by arguments that we can analyse but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.

Samuel Butler

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Samuel Butler
Age: 66 †
Born: 1835
Born: December 4
Died: 1902
Died: June 18
Farmer
Novelist
Painter
Photographer
Poet
Science Fiction Writer
Translator
Writer
Notts
Cellarius
Men
Analyse
Arguments
Temper
Manner
Tone
Argument

More quotes by Samuel Butler

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There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.
Samuel Butler
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Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.
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Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.
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Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.
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It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in futurity. The time present is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation.
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If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him.
Samuel Butler
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Nature. As the word is now commonly used it excludes nature's most interesting productions-the works of man. Nature is usually taken to mean mountains, rivers, clouds and undomesticated animals and plants. I am not indifferent to this half of nature, but it interests me much less than the other half.
Samuel Butler
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The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.
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The advantage of doing one's praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.
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[P]oetry resembles metaphysics: one does not mind one's own, but one does not like anyone else's.
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An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
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A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his property at the resurrection, and each tried to recover it from all his forefathers.
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When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are talking nonsense. There is no obedience unless there is at any rate a potentiality of disobeying.
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If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death.
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If I die prematurely at any rate I shall be saved from being bored to death by my own success.
Samuel Butler
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Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.
Samuel Butler
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The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in the Christian religion.
Samuel Butler
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The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.
Samuel Butler
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If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue.
Samuel Butler
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No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.
Samuel Butler