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It is a distinguishing peculiarity of the Erewhonians that when they profess themselves to be quite certain about any matter, and avow it as a base on which they are to build a system of practice, they seldom quite believe in it. If they smell a rat about the precincts of a cherished institution, they will always stop their noses to it if they can.

— Samuel Butler Erewhon (1872)

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More quotes by Samuel Butler

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.

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Feeling is an art and, like any other art, can be acquired by taking pains.

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The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

The Fair Haven (1873)

Silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden, not silence.

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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.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Samuel Butler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.