"To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty." ― Samuel Butler Topic(s): Society More From Samuel Butler "Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." "It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents." "To live is like to love – all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it." More In Society "Exclusiveness in a garden is a mistake as great as it is in society."― Alfred Austin "Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to the variations of climate, simple and nutritious aliment, and temperance in all things are necessary branches of the regimen of health."― Lord Chesterfield "This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society."― David Hume