“If, again, the most superficial introspection teaches the physiologist that his conscious life is dependent upon the mechanical adjustments of his body, and that inversely his body is subjected with certain limitations to his will, then it only remains for him to make one assumption more, namely, that this mutual interdependence between the spiritual and the material is itself also dependent on law, and he has discovered the bond by which the science of the matter and the science of consciousness are united into a single whole.”
Samuel Butler“A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.”
Samuel Butler, The Note Books of Samuel Butler“We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them.”
Samuel Butler, The Note Books of Samuel Butler“In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.”
Samuel Butler, The Note Books of Samuel Butler“It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.”
Samuel Butler“To live is like to love - all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.”
Samuel Butler“Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.”
Samuel Butler“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”
Samuel Butler