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

More quotes by Samuel Butler

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The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in the Christian religion.
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God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.
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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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Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.
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Nature. As the word is now commonly used it excludes nature's most interesting productions-the works of man. Nature is usually taken to mean mountains, rivers, clouds and undomesticated animals and plants. I am not indifferent to this half of nature, but it interests me much less than the other half.
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If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue.
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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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Our minds want clothes as much as our bodies.
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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.
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God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch.
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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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A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.
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The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.
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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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In law, nothing is certain but the expense.
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Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
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Neither have they hearts to stay, nor wit enough to run away.
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There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.
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He is greatest who is most often in men's good thoughts.
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Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.
Samuel Butler