Zitate von Samuel Butler d.J.

Der Weg allen Fleisches 1903, 39
Ohne Quellenangabe

„Für sich selbst ist jeder unsterblich; er mag wissen, dass er sterben muss, aber er kann nie wissen, dass er tot ist.“

Notebooks, 1912
Ohne Quellenangabe

„Aller Fortschritt beruht auf dem allgemeinen inneren Wunsch eines jeden Organismus, über sein Einkommen hinaus zu leben.“

Notebooks, 1912
Ohne Quellenangabe

„Die Welt wird letztlich nur denen folgen, die sie verachten - und ihr dienen.“

Notebooks
Ohne Quellenangabe

„Nicht Worte sollen wir lesen, sondern den Menschen, den wir hinter den Worten fühlen.“

Notebooks
Ohne Quellenangabe

„Eine Definition ist das Einfassen der Wildnis einer Idee mit einem Wall von Worten.“

„Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule.“

„As a general rule philosophy is like stirring mud or not letting a sleeping dog lie.“

Philosophy
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XX - First Principles
Kontext: As a general rule philosophy is like stirring mud or not letting a sleeping dog lie. It is an attempt to deny, circumvent or otherwise escape from the consequences of the interlacing of the roots of things with one another.

„We can no longer separate things as we once could: everything tends towards unity; one thing, one action, in one place, at one time.“

Unity and Multitude
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VI - Mind and Matter
Kontext: We can no longer separate things as we once could: everything tends towards unity; one thing, one action, in one place, at one time. On the other hand, we can no longer unify things as we once could; we are driven to ultimate atoms, each one of which is an individuality. So that we have an infinite multitude of things doing an infinite multitude of actions in infinite time and space; and yet they are not many things, but one thing.

„It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.“

Ramblings In Cheapside (1890)
Kontext: All we know is, that even the humblest dead may live along after all trace of the body has disappeared; we see them doing it in the bodies and memories of these that come after them; and not a few live so much longer and more effectually than is desirable, that it has been necessary to get rid of them by Act of Parliament. It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.

„Animals and plants cannot understand our business, so we have denied that they can understand their own.“

Organic and Inorganic
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VI - Mind and Matter
Kontext: Animals and plants cannot understand our business, so we have denied that they can understand their own. What we call inorganic matter cannot understand the animals’ and plants’ business, we have therefore denied that it can understand anything whatever.

„Not being written, it is not always easy to know what it is, but this has got to be done.“

The Law
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Kontext: The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much more so. You may break the written law at a pinch and on the sly if you can, but the unwritten law — which often comprises the written — must not be broken. Not being written, it is not always easy to know what it is, but this has got to be done.

„Everything matters more than we think it does, and, at the same time, nothing matters so much as we think it does.“