Quote#Speech
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of…
Quote bySamuel Butler · 1835–1902
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Part XIV: Higgledy-Piggledy, Definitions, iii.
English (original)
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.
— 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.
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!
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.
The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.