„Wir denken wie wir denken hauptsächlich, weil andere so denken.“
Notebooks, 1912
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Zitate von Samuel Butler d.J.
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Samuel Butler d.J.
Geburtstag: 4. Dezember 1835
Todesdatum: 18. Juni 1902
Samuel Butler war ein britischer Schriftsteller, Komponist, Philologe, Maler und Gelehrter.
Zitate Samuel Butler d.J.
„Es ist viel sicherer, zu wenig als zu viel zu wissen.“
Der Weg allen Fleisches, 1903, 5
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„Freundschaft ist wie Geld, leichter gewonnen als erhalten.“
Notebooks, 1912
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„Alle Lebewesen außer dem Menschen wissen, dass der Hauptzweck des Lebens darin besteht, es zu genießen.“
Der Weg allen Fleisches. Roman, postum 1903. Übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen versehen von Helmut Findeisen. dtv Klassik, München 1991, ISBN 3-423-02240-X, 19. Kapitel.
(Original en: "All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it." - The Way of All Flesh", Wikisource, chapter 19.
„Der beste Lügner ist der, der mit den wenigsten Lügen am längsten auskommt.“
Der Weg allen Fleisches 1903, 39
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„Die Welt wird letztlich nur denen folgen, die sie verachten - und ihr dienen.“
Notebooks
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„Für sich selbst ist jeder unsterblich; er mag wissen, dass er sterben muss, aber er kann nie wissen, dass er tot ist.“
Notebooks, 1912
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„Nicht Worte sollen wir lesen, sondern den Menschen, den wir hinter den Worten fühlen.“
Notebooks
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„Ein Liebespaar ist wie Sonnenaufgang und -untergang; es gibt sie alle Tage, aber wir sehen sie selten.“
Der Weg allen Fleisches, 1903, 11
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„Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life.“
Darwin Among the Machines
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part III - The Germs of Erewhon and of Life and Habit
Kontext: Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life. The upshot is simply a question of time, but that the time will come when the machines will hold the real supremacy over the world and its inhabitants is what no person of a truly philosophic mind can for a moment question.
„An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones.“
Incoherency of New Ideas
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy
Kontext: An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.
„The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much more so.“
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.
„There is an eternal antagonism of interest between the individual and the world at large.“
The Individual and the World
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part I - Lord, What is Man?
Kontext: There is an eternal antagonism of interest between the individual and the world at large. The individual will not so much care how much he may suffer in this world provided he can live in men’s good thoughts long after he has left it. The world at large does not so much care how much suffering the individual may either endure or cause in this life, provided he will take himself clean away out of men’s thoughts, whether for good or ill, when he has left it.
„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.
„Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else.“
Criticism
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Kontext: Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else. Books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes, and counsel should be heard on both sides.
„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.
