„Se la vita non deve essere presa troppo seriamente, la morte neppure.“
"Death"
Taccuini
Origine: Citato in Dizionario delle citazioni, a cura di Italo Sordi, BUR, 1992. ISBN 14603-X
Frasi di Samuel Butler
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Samuel Butler
Data di nascita: 4. Dicembre 1835
Data di morte: 18. Giugno 1902
Samuel Butler è stato uno scrittore inglese.
Samuel Butler è considerato dai critici un autore vittoriano iconoclasta. Tra le sue opere più famose troviamo l'opera satirica Erewhon e il romanzo postumo The Way of All Flesh . È anche noto per le sue analisi sulla ortodossia cristiana, per i suoi studi sulla teoria dell'evoluzione e dell'arte italiana e per i suoi scritti di storia e critica letteraria. Butler fu anche traduttore dell'Iliade e dell'Odissea di Omero. Wikipedia
Foto: Unknown author, GHP2@yahoogroups.com / Public domain
Frasi Samuel Butler
„È meglio aver amato e perduto che non aver mai amato.“
Taccuini
Origine: Citato in Dammi mille baci, e ancora cento. Le più belle citazioni sull'amore, a cura delle Redazioni Garzanti, Garzanti, 2013.
„I libri più vecchi, per chi non li ha letti, sono appena usciti.“
Origine: Citato in Dizionario delle citazioni, a cura di Italo Sordi, BUR, 1992. ISBN 14603-X
„Una cosa è certa, ed è il fatto che non possiamo dare niente per certo; perciò non è certo che non possiamo dare niente per certo.“
"First Principles"
Taccuini
Origine: Citato in Dizionario delle citazioni, a cura di Italo Sordi, BUR, 1992. ISBN 14603-X
„Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life.“
Darwin Among the Machines
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part III - The Germs of Erewhon and of Life and Habit
Contesto: Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life. The upshot is simply a question of time, but that the time will come when the machines will hold the real supremacy over the world and its inhabitants is what no person of a truly philosophic mind can for a moment question.
„An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones.“
Incoherency of New Ideas
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy
Contesto: An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.
„The written law is binding, but the unwritten law is much more so.“
The Law
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Contesto: 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.
„There is an eternal antagonism of interest between the individual and the world at large.“
The Individual and the World
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part I - Lord, What is Man?
Contesto: There is an eternal antagonism of interest between the individual and the world at large. The individual will not so much care how much he may suffer in this world provided he can live in men’s good thoughts long after he has left it. The world at large does not so much care how much suffering the individual may either endure or cause in this life, provided he will take himself clean away out of men’s thoughts, whether for good or ill, when he has left it.
„We can no longer separate things as we once could: everything tends towards unity; one thing, one action, in one place, at one time.“
Unity and Multitude
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VI - Mind and Matter
Contesto: We can no longer separate things as we once could: everything tends towards unity; one thing, one action, in one place, at one time. On the other hand, we can no longer unify things as we once could; we are driven to ultimate atoms, each one of which is an individuality. So that we have an infinite multitude of things doing an infinite multitude of actions in infinite time and space; and yet they are not many things, but one thing.
„Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else.“
Criticism
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Contesto: 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.
„It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.“
Ramblings In Cheapside (1890)
Contesto: All we know is, that even the humblest dead may live along after all trace of the body has disappeared; we see them doing it in the bodies and memories of these that come after them; and not a few live so much longer and more effectually than is desirable, that it has been necessary to get rid of them by Act of Parliament. It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.
„We are too fond of seeing the ancients as one thing and the moderns as another.“
Ancient Work
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XII - The Enfant Terrible of Literature
Contesto: If a person would understand either the Odyssey or any other ancient work, he must never look at the dead without seeing the living in them, nor at the living without thinking of the dead. We are too fond of seeing the ancients as one thing and the moderns as another.
„It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.“
— Samuel Butler, libro The Way of All Flesh
Ch. 67 http://books.google.com/books?id=wZAEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA338
The Way of All Flesh (1903)
Contesto: As the days went slowly by he came to see that Christianity and the denial of Christianity after all met as much as any other extremes do; it was a fight about names — not about things; practically the Church of Rome, the Church of England, and the freethinker have the same ideal standard and meet in the gentleman; for he is the most perfect saint who is the most perfect gentleman. Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.
„Not being written, it is not always easy to know what it is, but this has got to be done.“
The Law
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Contesto: 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.
„Sensible painting, like sensible law, sensible writing, or sensible anything else, consists as much in knowing what to omit as what to insist upon.“
Detail
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part IX - A Painter's Views on Painting
Contesto: One reason why it is as well not to give very much detail is that, no matter how much is given, the eye will always want more; it will know very well that it is not being paid in full. On the other hand, no matter how little one gives, the eye will generally compromise by wanting only a little more. In either case the eye will want more, so one may as well stop sooner or later. Sensible painting, like sensible law, sensible writing, or sensible anything else, consists as much in knowing what to omit as what to insist upon.
„As a general rule philosophy is like stirring mud or not letting a sleeping dog lie.“
Philosophy
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XX - First Principles
Contesto: As a general rule philosophy is like stirring mud or not letting a sleeping dog lie. It is an attempt to deny, circumvent or otherwise escape from the consequences of the interlacing of the roots of things with one another.
