Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.
Samuel ButlerRead
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Autumn brings a balance of loss and gain, where the beauty of flowers fades but is replaced by the abundance of fruit.
This quote reflects the transition of seasons, highlighting that although the vibrant flowers of spring and summer may fade in autumn, the season offers its own rewards in the form of fruits. It suggests that change can lead to valuable outcomes, encouraging appreciation for what is gained even when something beautiful is lost.
Themes
AutumnSeasonsNatureChangeFruitsLoss
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the beauty of nature, one might say, 'As Samuel Butler wisely noted, 'Autumn is the mellower season...'
More from Samuel Butler
All quotes →To know God better is only to realize how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all. I know not which is more childish to deny him, or define him.
Samuel ButlerRead
Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.
Samuel ButlerRead
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
Samuel ButlerRead
Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
Samuel ButlerRead
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.
Samuel ButlerRead
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Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead
It was Autumn, and incessant Piped the quails from shocks and sheaves, And, like living coals, the apples Burned among the withering leaves.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead