Samuel Butler

Genius is a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble.

[Genius] is no respecter of time, trouble, money or persons, the four things around which human affairs turn most persistently.

I consider being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill.

As soon as any art is pursued with a view of money, then farewell, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, all hope of genuine good work.

Neither have they hearts to stay, Nor wit enough to run away.

Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick, Though he gave his name to our Old Nick.

Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence.

There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle.