Samuel Butler (poet) Quotes

90 Sourced Quotes

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

Samuel Butler
He was in LOGIC a great critic,
Profoundly skill'd in analytic;
He could distinguish, and divide
A hair 'twixt south, and south-west side:
On either which he would dispute,
Confute, change hands, and still confute,
He'd undertake to prove, by force
Of argument, a man's no horse;
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl,
And that a lord may be an owl,
A calf an alderman, a goose a justice,
And rooks Committee-men and Trustees.

Samuel Butler
Some have been beaten till they know
What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow;
Some kick'd until they can feel whether
A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.

Samuel Butler
I 'll make the fur
Fly 'bout the ears of the old cur.

Samuel Butler
Quoth Hudibras, "I smell a rat!
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate."

Samuel Butler
In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:
For he, by geometric scale,
Could take the size of pots of ale;
Resolve, by sines and tangents straight,
If bread and butter wanted weight;
And wisely tell what hour o' th' day
The clock doth strike, by algebra.

Samuel Butler
They who study mathematiks only to fix their minds, and render them the steadyer to apply to all other things, as there are many who profess to do, are as wise as those who think by rowing boats, to learn to swim.

Samuel Butler
Great actions are not always true sons
Of great and mighty resolutions.

Samuel Butler
He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no.

Samuel Butler
But Hudibras gave him a twitch
As quick as lightning in the breech,
Just in the place where honour's lodg'd,
As wise philosophers have judg'd;
Because a kick in that part more
Hurts honour than deep wounds before.

Samuel Butler
Love in your hearts as idly burns
As fire in antique Roman urns.

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

Samuel Butler
Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore;
Knew more than forty of them do,
As far as words and terms cou'd go.
All which he understood by rote
And, as occasion serv'd, would quote;
No matter whether right or wrong,
They might be either said or sung.
His notions fitted things so well,
That which was which he could not tell;
But oftentimes mistook th' one
For th' other, as great clerks have done.

Samuel Butler
Who thought he 'd won
The field as certain as a gun.

Samuel Butler
Nor do I know what is become
Of him, more than the Pope of Rome.

Samuel Butler
Still amorous and fond and billing,
Like Philip and Mary on a shilling.

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

Samuel Butler
True as the dial to the sun,
Although it be not shin'd upon.

Samuel Butler
And still be doing, never done:
As if Religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.

Samuel Butler
Quoth she, I 've heard old cunning stagers
Say fools for arguments use wagers.

Samuel Butler
He that imposes an oath makes it,
Not he that for convenience takes it;
Then how can any man be said
To break an oath he never made?

Samuel Butler
And weave fine cobwebs, fit for skull
That's empty when the moon is full;
Such as take lodgings in a head
That's to be let unfurnished.

Samuel Butler
And poets by their sufferings grow;
As if there were no more to do,
To make a poet excellent,
But only want and discontent.

Samuel Butler
For he could coin, or counterfeit
New words, with little or no wit;
Words so debas'd and hard, no stone
Was hard enough to touch them on;
And when with hasty noise he spoke 'em;
The ignorant for current took 'em;

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

Samuel Butler
Such as do build their faith upon The holy text of pike and gun.

Samuel Butler
Why should not conscience have vacation
As well as other courts o' th' nation?

Samuel Butler
The law can take a purse in open court,
Whilst it condemns a less delinquent for't.

Samuel Butler
A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.

Samuel Butler
For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which like ships they steer their courses.

Samuel Butler