Facts About Samuel Butler
- Samuel Butler, the author of Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh was born in December of 1835.
- He was born in the village of Langar in England.
- He didn’t get along well with his parents. He found the relationship with his father particularly troubling. He noted of his father that, “He never liked me, nor I him; from my earliest recollections I can call to mind no time when I did not fear him and dislike him…. I have never passed a day without thinking of him many times over as the man who was sure to be against me.”
- Butler graduated from Cambridge in 1858.
- After his graduation, Samuel’s father wanted him to become a priest. However a crisis of faith lead Samuel down a different path. He emigrated to New Zealand and raised sheep instead. He returned to England in 1864.
- Butler made prose translations of the Iliad and Odyssey which remain in use to this day.
- He died on June 18, 1902 in London.
- The Way of All Flesh is a semi-autobiographical novel and was published posthumously.
Freedom Quotes from Literature for the Fourth of July
I hope you all have a fun and safe Fourth of July!! To commemorate the day, here are five quotes about freedom.
Peril, loneliness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom! ~ The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.” ~ Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
“Liberty is worth paying for.” ~ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.” ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
See Entire Collection of Freedom Quotes
James M. Barrie Love Quote Photo
Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind. It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard. To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover’s privilege. ~ The Little Minister by James M. Barrie
I’ve posted this on the LitQuotes Facebook page as well as the LitQuotes Google Plus page for easier sharing.
Feeling Philosophical via Virginia Woolf
I’m feeling a bit philosophical today after reading these two quotes from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The very stone one kicks with one’s boot will outlast Shakespeare.
and
What is the meaning of life? That was all–a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.
This Life is Not All Quote Photo
I believe that this life is not all; neither the beginning nor the end. I believe while I tremble; I trust while I weep. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
I’ve been missing a dear cousin who passed away two years ago. I do believe we’ll meet again. If you’ve lost someone, maybe this will help you too. I’ve posted this on the LitQuotes Facebook page as well as the LitQuotes Google Plus page for easier sharing.
Five Quotes from Literature about Experience
Yesterday we added experience quotes as a topic. Here are five of my favorites from the collection.
“Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.” ~ Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
“Thanks to his constant habit of shaking the bottle in which life handed him the wine of experience, he presently found the taste of the lees rising as usual into his draught.” ~ The Ambassadors by Henry James
How is it that the poets have said so many fine things about our first love, so few about our later love? Are their first poems their best? Or are not those the best which come from their fuller thought, their larger experience, their deeper-rooted affections? ~ Adam Bede by George Eliot
A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience. ~ The Professor at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
“No, I am not at all cynical, I have merely got experience, which, however, is very much the same thing.” ~ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde
See Entire Experience Quote Collection
Summer is Here! Five Quotes to Celebrate!
Today, June 21st, is the first day of summer. Enjoy! Here are five literary quotes about summer to help you savor the moment.
And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees–just as things grow in fast movies–I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. ~ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. ~ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Her love was entire as a child’s, and though warm as summer it was fresh as spring. ~ Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
A tranquil summer sunset shone upon him as he approached the end of his walk, and passed through the meadows by the river side. He had that sense of peace, and of being lightened of a weight of care, which country quiet awakens in the breasts of dwellers in towns. ~ Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
He has been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers. ~ Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Check out the entire collection of summer quotes from literature.
The Game is Afoot!
This Sherlockian license plate frame is one of the most popular item at the LitQuotes gift shop. I know the quote is in The Adventure of Abbey Grange. Does anyone know if it’s in other Sherlock Holmes stories?
“Come, Watson, come!” he cried. The game is afoot.” ~ The Adventure of Abbey Grange by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Weep No More Quote Photo
The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more. ~ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Yes, it’s true. There are inspirational and beautiful quotes to be foundin classic horror literature like, Frankenstein. I’ve posted this on the LitQuotes Facebook page as well as the LitQuotes Google Plus page for easier sharing.
Giving Thanks on Memorial Day
And now set in a fell and fierce fight, one of a thousand of which no chronicler has spoken and no poet sung. Through all the centuries and over all those southern waters nameless men have fought in nameless places, their sole monuments a protected coast and an unravaged country-side. ~ The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
