Quotes
Quotes - Butler
Why should not conscience have vacation
As well as other courts o' th' nation?
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?
As the ancients
Say wisely, have a care o' th' main chance,
And look before you ere you leap;
For as you sow, ye are like to reap.
Doubtless the pleasure is as great
Of being cheated as to cheat.
He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no.
Each window like a pill'ry appears,
With heads thrust thro' nail'd by the ears.
To swallow gudgeons ere they 're catch'd,
And count their chickens ere they 're hatch'd.
There's but the twinkling of a star
Between a man of peace and war.
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.
As men of inward light are wont
To turn their optics in upon 't.
Still amorous and fond and billing,
Like Philip and Mary on a shilling.
What makes all doctrines plain and clear?
About two hundred pounds a year.
And that which was prov'd true before
Prove false again? Two hundred more.
'Cause grace and virtue are within
Prohibited degrees of kin;
And therefore no true saint allows
They shall be suffer'd to espouse.
Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick,
Though he gave his name to our Old Nick.
With crosses, relics, crucifixes,
Beads, pictures, rosaries, and pixes,--
The tools of working our salvation
By mere mechanic operation.
True as the dial to the sun,
Although it be not shin'd upon.
But still his tongue ran on, the less
Of weight it bore, with greater ease.
For those that fly may fight again,
Which he can never do that's slain.
He that complies against his will
Is of his own opinion still.
With books and money plac'd for show
Like nest-eggs to make clients lay,
And for his false opinion pay.
And poets by their sufferings grow,--
As if there were no more to do,
To make a poet excellent,
But only want and discontent.
No record of her high descent
There needs, nor memory of her name;
Enough that Raphael's colors blent
To give her features deathless fame.
Really and truly--I've nothing to wear.
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire of every organism to live beyond its means.
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
