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Those that go up hill, use to bow,
Their bodies forward, and stoop low
To poise themselves, and sometimes creep,
When th’ way is difficult and steep:
So those at court, that do address,
By low ignoble offices,
Can stoop at anything that’s base,
To wriggle into trust and grace,
Are like to rise to greatness sooner,
Than those that go by worth and honor.

— Samuel Butler Attributed Forty Thousand Quotations (1917)

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More quotes by Samuel Butler

Love is a boy by poets styl'd;
Then spare the rod and spoil the child.

Part II (1664)

Doubtless the pleasure is as great
Of being cheated as to cheat.

Part II (1664)

As men of inward light are wont
To turn their optics in upon 't.

Part III (1678)

For those that fly may fight again,
Which he can never do that's slain.

Part III (1678)

Have always been at daggers-drawing,
And one another clapper-clawing.

Part II (1664)

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Attribution

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.