“We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them.”

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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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