Quotes by Samuel Butler

Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.

In law, nothing is certain but the expense.

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing.

A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those worth committing.

All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.

The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.

The history of art is the history of revivals.

God cannot alter the past, though historians can.