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They say the test of [literary power] is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, Can he name a kitten? And by this test I am condemned, for I cannot.
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
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Inscription
Names
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Whether
Kitten
Write
Condemned
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Cat
Men
Tests
More quotes by Samuel Butler
The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.
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In law, nothing is certain but the expense.
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Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.
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The human intellect owes its superiority over that of the lower animals in great measure to the stimulus which alcohol has given imagination.
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Opinions have vested interests just as men have.
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Business should be like religion and science it should know neither love nor hate.
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It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy - but he who has shown the better temper.
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Christ was only crucified once and for a few hours. Think of the hundreds of thousands whom Christ has been crucifying in a quiet way ever since.
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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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God and the Devil are an effort after specialisation and division of labour.
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My main wish is to get my books into other people's rooms, and to keep other people's books out of mine.
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Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.
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People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.
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A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage - but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.
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Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
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Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously.
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The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
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He dons are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything.
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Life is one long process of getting tired.
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Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.
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