Handel and Shakespeare have left us the best that any have left us; yet, in spite of this, how much of their lives was wasted. - Samuel Butler

A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage—but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.

People say that there are neither dragons to be killed nor distressed maidens to be rescued nowadays. I do not know, but I think I have dropped across one or two, nor do I feel sure whether the most mortal wounds have been inflicted by the dragons or by myself.

It is a distinguishing peculiarity of the Erewhonians that when they profess themselves to be quite certain about any matter, and avow it as a base on which they are to build a system of practice, they seldom quite believe in it. If they smell a rat about the precincts of a cherished institution, they will always stop their noses to it if they can.