There is but one step from the Academy to the Fad. - (Butler, Samuel - Academia)

He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still. - (Butler, Samuel - Agreement)

It is immoral to get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache came first and the drunkenness afterwards, it would be moral to get drunk. - (Butler, Samuel - Alcohol and Alcoholism)

Union may be strength, but it is mere blind brute strength unless wisely directed. - (Butler, Samuel - Alliances)

When the righteous man truth away from his righteousness that he hath committed and doeth that which is neither quite lawful nor quite right, he will generally be found to have gained in amiability what he has lost in holiness. - (Butler, Samuel - Amiability)

Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. - (Butler, Samuel - Animals)

A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg. - (Butler, Samuel - Animals)

Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him. - (Butler, Samuel - Argument)

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself. - (Butler, Samuel - Argument)

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it. - (Butler, Samuel - Arts and Artists)

Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions. - (Butler, Samuel - Banality)

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance. - (Butler, Samuel - Belief)

Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it, people, to express their regret, will go and leave a lot of money to the very people who will be the first to throw stones at the next person who has anything to say and finds a difficulty in getting a hearing. - (Butler, Samuel - Benefactors)

Birth and death are so closely related that one could not destroy either without destroying the other at the same time. It is extinction that makes creation possible. - (Butler, Samuel - Birth)

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. - (Butler, Samuel - Books - Reading)