Butlerians

This great truth I learned of the Butlerians: Though the forms and objects of religious belief wax old as a garment and are changed, faith, which is, after all, the precious thing, endures forever.

Samuel Butler: Diogenes of the Victorians 1921

The Butlerians admire Butler for his brilliant attack on “romantic” relations between the sexes.

Samuel Butler: Diogenes of the Victorians 1921

The Butlerians admire Butler for his withering attack on family life, notably in “The Way of All Flesh”; and many a studious literary man with a talkative wife and eight romping children would, of course, admit an occasional flash of romantic envy for Butler’s bachelor apartments.

Samuel Butler: Diogenes of the Victorians 1921

Considering his opportunities, he is sparing in composed studies of his subject based on his own direct observation; and, with all his ingenuousness and his shocking but illuminating indiscretions, he is frequently silent as a tomb where he must certainly possess information for which every reader will inquire, particularly those readers who do not, like the Butlerians, accept Samuel Butler as the happy reincarnation of moderation, common sense and fearless honesty.

Samuel Butler: Diogenes of the Victorians 1921

UNTIL I met the Butlerians I used to think that the religious spirit in our times was very precious, there was so little of it.

Samuel Butler: Diogenes of the Victorians 1921

All such I intend to include in the collection; and I hope that other Butlerians will see fit to make additions to it.

The Samuel Butler Collection at Saint John's College Cambridge Henry Festing Jones 1889