Quote

Whereas, to borrow an illustration from mathematics, life was formerly an equation of, say, 100 unknown quantities, it is now one of 99 only, inasmuch as memory and heredity have been shown to be one and the same thing.

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
Whereas
Quantities
Unknown
Formerly
Mathematics
Equation
Memory
Illustration
Memories
Borrow
Science
Equations
Thing
Quantity
Inasmuch
Life
Shown
Heredity

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There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.
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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.
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Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.
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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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It is tact that is golden, not silence.
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The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.
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Our minds want clothes as much as our bodies.
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The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow. So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered.
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Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.
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Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.
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How often do we not see children ruined through the virtues, real or supposed, of their parents?
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Letters are like wine if they are sound they ripen with keeping. A man should lay down letters as he does a cellar of wine.
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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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It is death, and not what comes after death, that men are generally afraid of.
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There is such a thing as doing good that evil may come.
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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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Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
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The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.
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Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
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People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.
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