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Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902

"The Note-Books of Samuel Butler"



An Apology for the Devil

It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case.
God has written all the books.

Hallelujah

When we exclaim so triumphantly "Hallelujah! for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth" we only mean that we think no small beer of
ourselves, that our God is a much greater God than any one else's
God, that he was our father's God before us, and that it is all
right, respectable and as it should be.

Hating

It does not matter much what a man hates provided he hates something.

Hamlet, Don Quixote, Mr. Pickwick and others

The great characters of fiction live as truly as the memories of dead
men. For the life after death it is not necessary that a man or
woman should have lived.

Reputation

The evil that men do lives after them. Yes, and a good deal of the
evil that they never did as well.

Science and Business

The best class of scientific mind is the same as the best class of
business mind. The great desideratum in either case is to know how
much evidence is enough to warrant action. It is as unbusiness-like
to want too much evidence before buying or selling as to be content
with too little. The same kind of qualities are wanted in either
case. The difference is that if the business man makes a mistake, he
commonly has to suffer for it, whereas it is rarely that scientific
blundering, so long as it is confined to theory, entails loss on the
blunderer.


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