“There is one thing certain namely that we can have nothing certain therefore it is not certain that we can have nothing certain.”
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