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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
Name
Inscription
Names
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Whether
Kitten
Write
Condemned
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Cat
Men
Tests
More quotes by Samuel Butler
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
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.
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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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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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Friends are like money, easier made than kept.
Samuel Butler
Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.
Samuel Butler
He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.
Samuel Butler
Be virtuous and you will be vicious.
Samuel Butler
The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.
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Mr. Tennyson has said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, but he wisely refrains from saying whether they are good or bad things.
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The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything.
Samuel Butler
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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A drunkard would not give money to sober people. He said they would only eat it, and buy clothes and send their children to school with it.
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You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
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God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.
Samuel Butler
God and the Devil are an effort after specialisation and division of labour.
Samuel Butler
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.
Samuel Butler
A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage - but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.
Samuel Butler
Neither have they hearts to stay, nor wit enough to run away.
Samuel Butler
The healthy stomach is nothing if it is not conservative. Few radicals have good digestions.
Samuel Butler
