Samuel Butler

The truest characters of ignorance
Are vanity, and pride, and annoyance.

The truest characters of ignorance
Are vanity, and pride, and annoyance.

Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
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Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain.

A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good read more

A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good of him but that which is
underground.

This was the penn'worth of his thought.

This was the penn'worth of his thought.

In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater;
For he, by geometric scale,
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In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater;
For he, by geometric scale,
Could take the size of pots of ale.