“Embryos think with each stage of their development that they have now reached the only condition that really suits them. This, they say, must certainly be their last, inasmuch as its close will be so great a shock that nothing can survive it. Every change is a shock; every shock is a pro tanto death. What we call death is only a shock great enough to destroy our power to recognize a past and a present as resembling one another.”

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Originally said in English.

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About Samuel Butler

English novelist and satirist of the late 19th century, Samuel Butler is best known for his dystopian novel *Erewhon*, a scathing critique of Victorian society and technological progress. His sharp wit and speculative fiction also extend to *The Way of All Flesh*, a semi-autobiographical novel exploring human nature and moral hypocrisy.

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