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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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Test
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Cat
Men
Tests
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Inscription
Names
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Kitten
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Condemned
Cannot
Literary
More quotes by Samuel Butler
You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
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Inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time. True inspiration always steals on a person its importance not being fully recognized for some time.
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It is tact that is golden, not silence.
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Words are like money there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use.
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He dons are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything.
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People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.
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Opinions have vested interests just as men have.
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God cannot alter the past, though historians can.
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Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
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Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.
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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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People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced.
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Men should not try to overstrain their goodness more than any other faculty, bodily or mental.
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Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.
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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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Our minds want clothes as much as our bodies.
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The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst his reputation.
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I believe that he was really sorry that people would not believe he was sorry that he was not more sorry.
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Life is one long process of getting tired.
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Death is only a larger kind of going abroad.
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