“For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools.”

— Samuel Butler (poet) , Hudibras

Canto I, line 81
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Context: For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope;
And when he happen'd to break off
I' th' middle of his speech, or cough,
H' had hard words, ready to show why,
And tell what rules he did it by;
Else, when with greatest art he spoke,
You'd think he talk'd like other folk,
For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "For all a rhetorician's rules Teach nothing but to name his tools." by Samuel Butler (poet)?

Samuel Butler (poet) photo

Samuel Butler (poet) 81

poet and satirist 1612–1680

Related quotes

“As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own power, to produce converts to his own cause, and to create loyal followers of his own person—so the noble rhetorician uses language to wean men away from their inclination to depend on authority, to encourage them to think and speak clearly, and to teach them to be their own masters.”

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist

Source: Anti-Freud (1990), p. 55.

“Man is a tool-using animal…Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Bk. I, ch. 5.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)

“If you want to master something, teach it. Teaching is a powerful tool for learning.”

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist

“Rules and school are tools for fools! I don't give two mules for rules.”

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society

“Admit nothing - that was his first rule. Appeal to logic - second rule. Delay the inevitable - third rule.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Wizard Heir

“I can call nothing by name if that is not his name. I call a cat a cat, and Rollet a rogue.”

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711) French poet and critic

Je ne puis rien nommer si ce n'est par son nom ;
J'appelle un chat un chat, et Rollet un fripon.
Satire I, l. 51
Satires (1716)

“All that that I learn just teaches me that I know nothing.”

Philippa Gregory book The Lady of the Rivers

Source: The Lady of the Rivers

“With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made "legal." Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.”

Eric Metaxas (1963) American journalist

Source: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

“All that the Eternal Father teaches and reveals is His being, His nature, and His Godhead, which He manifests to us in His Son, and teaches us that we are also His Son.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

Sermon IV : True Hearing
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons (1909)

“I have nothing to teach you that will help you to make a living. [as art teacher, advising his students]”

John Sloan (1871–1951) American painter

Source: Loughery, John. John Sloan: Painter and Rebel. New York: Henry Holt, 1995. , pp. 224-225

Related topics