Quote

The wish to spread those opinions that we hold conducive to our own welfare is so deeply rooted in the English character that few of us can escape its influence.

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
Spread
English
Hold
Conducive
Influence
Rooted
Opinion
Opinions
Wish
Welfare
Character
Escape
Deeply

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Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.
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It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.
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Since God himself cannot change the past, He is obliged to tolerate the existence of historians.
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There are two great rules of life the one general and the other particular. The first is that everyone can, in the end, get what he wants, if he only tries. That is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is, more or less, an exception to the rule.
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The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.
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The only absolute morality is absolute stagnation.
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He is greatest who is most often in men's good thoughts.
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The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
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He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.
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In law, nothing is certain but the expense.
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The history of art is the history of revivals.
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There are two classes [of scientists], those who want to know, and do not care whether others think they know or not, and those who do not much care about knowing, but care very greatly about being reputed as knowing.
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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.
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Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
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The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.
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Our own death is a premium which we must pay for the far greater benefit we have derived from the fact that so many people have not only lived but also died before us.
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People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.
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Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.
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When you've told someone that you've left them a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once.
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If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.
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