The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much m… - Samuel Butler

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The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much more so. You may break the written law at a pinch and on the sly if you can, but the unwritten law — which often comprises the written — must not be broken. Not being written, it is not always easy to know what it is, but this has got to be done.

Samuel Butler

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About Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902) was a British satirist, most famous for his novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh.

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Alternative Names: Cellarius

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Originators like Samuel Butler:

Samuel Butler Arthur Schopenhauer Michel de Montaigne Friedrich Nietzsche Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Additional quotes by Samuel Butler

Feeling is an art and, like any other art, can be acquired by taking pains.

There is nothing less powerful than knowledge unattached, and incapable of application. That is why what little knowledge I have has done myself personally so much harm. I do not know much, but if I knew a good deal less than that little I should be far more powerful.

Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else. Books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes, and counsel should be heard on both sides.

The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much more so. You may break the written law at a pinch and on the sly if you can, but the unwrit… - Samuel Butler

About Samuel Butler

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Additional quotes by Samuel Butler