Why does the fresh fallen August snow lie so long on the top of that high peak when it is so thin and the weather is so hot? I suppose because it is not thin, and because the weather up there is not hot, and because it does not lie long.
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‘Scientific’ to men like Herbert Spencer, means little else than the power to say in hard words and involved sentences what could be better said in easy ones.
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If a man wants to break any habit he had far better do it gradually than suddenly. In the gradual leaving off there is not likely to be a relapse. In the sudden there is almost sure to be, and with relapse demoralization.
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A man may say what he likes about Christ, but he must be very careful how he attacks Mr. Darwin or indeed any of the scientific or literary bigwigs.
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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Certainly, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing.
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Our latest moment is always our supreme moment. Five minutes delay in dinner now is more important than a great sorrow ten years gone.
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Some draw distinctions without differences; with others no amount of difference would make them draw a distinction.
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By faith a man can even read Herbert Spencer.
(Further Selections from The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, 1934).