
Vice and Virtue, ii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part II - Elementary Morality
Prejudices, Second Series (1920) Ch. 1
1920s
Vice and Virtue, ii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part II - Elementary Morality
“The man must have a rare recipe for melancholy, who can be dull in Fleet Street.”
Letter to Thomas Manning (February 15, 1802)
“A man who is certain he is right is almost sure to be wrong.”
“We always may be sure that every man-made thing arises from a problem as a purposeful solution.”
Source: The Shape of Time, 1982, p. 8.
“The world sure isn’t kind to the man who tries to be gentle and thoughtful.”
Source: Bleak Seasons (1996), Chapter 40 (p. 113)
“I always tell what I believe. Whether it's true, I'm no more sure than any man.”
Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Seventh Son (1987), Chapter 9.
“A book is like a man — clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly.”
On Publishing
Writers at Work (1977)
Context: A book is like a man — clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.