Author Detail for Mark Twain (42 Quotes)

  Author Category Subject Content
1 Mark Twain General Honesty Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
2 Mark Twain General Dreams Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
3 Mark Twain General Grief Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size.
4 Mark Twain Humor Modesty The man who is ostentatious of his modesty is twin to the statue that wears a fig-leaf.
5 Mark Twain Humor Aging This is no time to be flitting about the earth. I must cease from the activities proper to youth and begin to take on the dignities and gravities and inertia proper to that season of honorable senility which is on its way.
6 Mark Twain Humor Expediency I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed.
7 Mark Twain Humor Dishonesty Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
8 Mark Twain Humor Scientists Scientists have odious manners, except when you prop up their theory; then you can borrow money of them.
9 Mark Twain General Speculation There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it, and when he can.
10 Mark Twain General Speech The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
11 Mark Twain Politics Expediency In statesmanship get the formalities right, never mind about the moralities.
12 Mark Twain Humor Temptation There are several good protections against temptations but the surest is cowardice.
13 Mark Twain Humor Truth Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.
14 Mark Twain Humor Vanity There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.
15 Mark Twain Science Ignorance We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.
16 Mark Twain Humor Expression Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.
17 Mark Twain General Self Esteem There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.
18 Mark Twain Literature Books A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razorstrap. A thin book is useful to stick under a table with a broken caster to steady it. A large, flat atlas can be used to cover a window with a broken pane. And a thick, old-fashioned heavy book with a clasp is the finest thing in the world to throw at a noisy cat.
19 Mark Twain Literature Books A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
20 Mark Twain General Adventure There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. (Tom Sawyer)
21 Mark Twain Humor Planning Put all your eggs in the one basket and WATCH THAT BASKET.
22 Mark Twain General Judgement To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours.
23 Mark Twain Humor Humility There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me. I always feel that they have not said enough.
24 Mark Twain Politics Congress It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
25 Mark Twain General Change Who is the really consistent man? The man who changes. Since change is the law of his being, he cannot be consistent if he stick in a rut.
26 Mark Twain Humor Gratitude If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
27 Mark Twain Humor Shame Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.
28 Mark Twain Humor Foolishness Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
29 Mark Twain Humor Friendship The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet, steady, loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.
30 Mark Twain General Genius Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered either by themselves or by others.
31 Mark Twain Humor Golf Golf is a good walk spoiled.
32 Mark Twain Humor Righteousness Always do right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest.
33 Mark Twain General Habit Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
34 Mark Twain Humor Humanity Such is the human race. Often it does seem such a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.
35 Mark Twain General Friendship Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
36 Mark Twain Humor Bragging Noise means nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.
37 Mark Twain Humor Vanity There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.
38 Mark Twain General Adventure Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
39 Mark Twain Humor Example Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.
40 Mark Twain General Education I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
41 Mark Twain General Competition It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
42 Mark Twain Literature Books The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.