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But so engrained in the human heart is the desire to believe that some people really do know what they say they know, and can thus save them from the trouble of thinking for themselves, that in a short time would-be philosophers and faddists became more powerful than ever, and gradually led their countrymen to accept all those absurd views of life.

— 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.

The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

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

The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

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.