Samuel Butler Quotes

And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick.

And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick.

So 'ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout
Of petulant capricious sects,
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So 'ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout
Of petulant capricious sects,
That maggots of corrupted texts,
That first run all religion down,
And after every swarm its own.

The moon pull'd off her veil of light,
That hides her face by day from sight
(Mysterious read more

The moon pull'd off her veil of light,
That hides her face by day from sight
(Mysterious veil, of brightness made,)
That's both her lustre and her shade),
And in the lantern of the night,
With shining horns hung out her light.

The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,
Did cause their clergy, with read more

The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,
Did cause their clergy, with lustrations
. . . .
The round-fac'd prodigy t' avert,
From doing town or country hurt.

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, read more

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, go
Just as they're set, too fast or slow;
And where in Conscience they're strait-lac'd,
'Tis ten to one that side is cast.

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

This was the penn'worth of his thought.

This was the penn'worth of his thought.

For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
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For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
To smatter French is meritorious.
- Samuel Butler (1),

Beside, he was a shrewd philosopher,
And had read ev'ry text and gloss over
Whate'er the crabbed'st read more

Beside, he was a shrewd philosopher,
And had read ev'ry text and gloss over
Whate'er the crabbed'st author hath,
He understood b' implicit faith.

Like feather-bed betwixt a wall
And heavy brunt of cannon ball.

Like feather-bed betwixt a wall
And heavy brunt of cannon ball.