"Words, words, words," he writes, "are the stumbling-blocks in the way of truth. Until you think of things as they are, and not of the words that misrepresent them, you cannot think rightly. Words produce the appearance of hard and fast lines where there are none. Words divide; thus we call this a man, that an ape, that a monkey, while they are all only differentiations of the same thing. To think of a thing they must be got rid of: they are the clothes that thoughts wear—only the clothes. I say this over and over again, for there is nothing of more importance. Other men's words will stop you at the beginning of an investigation. A man may play with words all his life, arranging them and rearranging them like dominoes. If I could think to you without words you would understand me better."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
LGBT peopleNovelists from EnglandTranslators from EnglandSatirists from EnglandBiographers from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Life and Habit, ch. 5 (1877)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Samuel Butler (novelist)
Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902) was a British satirist, most famous for his novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh.
210 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Samuel Butler (novelist) →
Related Quotes
"Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so."
"Our choice is apparently most free, and we are least obviously driven to determine our course, in those cases where t…"
"Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions."
"Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure."
"Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well."
"I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy."
"A little boy and a little girl were looking at a picture of Adam and Eve. "Which is Adam and which is Eve?" said one.…"
"The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do thi…"
"The pursuit of truth is chimerical. That is why it is so hard to say what truth is. There is no permanent absolute un…"
"You can have all ego, or all non-ego, but in theory you cannot have half one and half the other — yet in practice thi…"