Quote#Politics & Power
They say the test of this [literary power] is whether a man can write…
Quote bySamuel Butler · 1835–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Part VII: On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books, Literary Power.
English (original)
They say the test of this [literary power] is whether a man can write an inscription. I say “Can he name a kitten?” And by this test I am condemned, for I cannot.
— Samuel Butler
More from Samuel Butler
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.
Stowed away in a Montreal lumber room The Discobolus standeth and turneth his face to the wall; Dusty, cobweb-covered, maimed and set at naught, Beauty crieth in an attic and no man regardeth: O God! O Montreal!
The Discobolus is put here because he is vulgar — He has neither vest nor pants with which to cover his limbs.
We can see nothing face to face; our utmost seeing is but a fumbling of blind finger-ends in an overcrowded pocket.
The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.