"A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of influencing conduct."
Read quote
19 likes
Quote collection
Samuel Butler quotes (page 3 of 12)
222 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"From a worldly point of view, there is no mistake so great as that of being always right."
Read quote
18 likes
"We are not won by arguments that we can analyse but by tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself."
Read quote
18 likes
"Self-preservation is the first law of nature."
Read quote
17 likes
"Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it."
Read quote
16 likes
"God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch."
Read quote
16 likes
"Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions."
Read quote
15 likes
"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."
Read quote
14 likes
"All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others."
Read quote
14 likes
"Words are not as satisfactory as we should like them to be, but, like our neighbours, we have got to live with them and must make the best and not the worst of them."
Read quote
14 likes
"All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income."
Read quote
13 likes
"Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance."
Read quote
13 likes
"An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books."
Read quote
13 likes
"Oaths are but words, and words are but wind."
Read quote
13 likes
"To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead."
Read quote
13 likes
"Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character."
Read quote
13 likes
"Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises."
Read quote
13 likes
"Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it."
Read quote
12 likes
"In law, nothing is certain but the expense."
Read quote
12 likes
"It is tact that is golden, not silence."
Read quote
12 likes