"Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on."
"To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty."
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Source: Notebooks ch. 14 (1912)
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More quotes by Samuel Butler
"Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning."
"If I die prematurely at any rate I shall be saved from being bored to death by my own success."
"Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule."
"Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud."
"Don't learn to do, but learn in doing."