Quote#Self
He [the Philosopher] should have made many mistakes and been saved…
Quote bySamuel Butler · 1835–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Part XI: Cash and Credit, The Philosopher.
English (original)
He [the Philosopher] should have made many mistakes and been saved often by the skin of his teeth, for the skin of one's teeth is the most teaching thing about one. He should have been, or at any rate believed himself, a great fool and a great criminal. He should have cut himself adrift from society, and yet not be without society.
— Samuel Butler
More from Samuel Butler
A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
We can see nothing face to face; our utmost seeing is but a fumbling of blind finger-ends in an overcrowded pocket.
The Discobolus is put here because he is vulgar — He has neither vest nor pants with which to cover his limbs.
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 man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.