The Art of Covery
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XI - Cash and Credit
“If he wrote it, he could get rid of it. He had gotten rid of many things by writing them.”
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
Quoted in "Anecdotes of the Revd. Percival Stockdale" (1809) in Johnsonian Miscellanies (1897), vol. II, p. 333, edited by George Birkbeck Hill; also quoted in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, in the Avenged Sevenfold song "Bat Country", and in Kingdom S02E04.
“He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
As quoted by Robert Chambers, "Sir Isaac Newton and the Apple," The Book of Days (1832) Vol. 2 https://books.google.com/books?id=K0UJAAAAIAAJ, p. 757.
“You don’t make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great.”
When asked if Donald Trump is racist.
Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami (March 9, 2016)
Context: I was the first one to call him out. I called him out when he was calling Mexicans rapists.... His demagoguery, his trafficking in prejudice and paranoia has no place in our political system. Especially from somebody running for president who couldn’t decide whether or not to disavow the and David Duke. So people can draw their own conclusions about him. I will just end by saying this. You don’t make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great. I think it’s un-American. I think what he has promoted is not at all in keeping with American values.
“Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.”
Variant: Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
“It's easy to make friends, but hard to get rid of them.”
God doesn't believe in atheists (2002)
Source: The Sword or the Cross, Which Should be the Weapon of the Christian Militant? (1921), Ch.6 p. 101-102
Context: The Christian in Belgium or in England in 1914 should not have gone to war, in my opinion, since war is violently unchristian. He should have been Christian, that is, he should have lived in the spirit of Jesus Christ, returning good for evil, love for hatred, mercy for cruelty, kindness for atrocity. Even if his country had been conquered by Germany, he would have confronted the same situation which Jesus faced, and like Jesus he should have sought to get rid of the oppressor by other means than the sword.
