They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an insc…

Samuel Butler
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They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, Can he name a kitten? ✨ The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (Part VII: On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books). Book edited by Henry Festing Jones, 1917.
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All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income. ✨ Notebooks (1912) ch. 1
Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.
The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything. ✨ Samuel Butler (1951). Notebooks: Selections Edited by Geoffrey Keynes and Brian Hill
Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use. ✨ Samuel Butler (2014). The Notebooks of Samuel Butler, p.128, The Floating Press
Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, Can he name a kitten? ✨ The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (Part VII: On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books). Book edited by Henry Festing Jones, 1917.

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