Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyerand its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called "The Great American Novel"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth30 November 1835
CountryUnited States of America
men twins modesty
The man who is ostentatious of his modesty is twin to the statue that wears a fig-leaf.
school firsts half
The first half of my life I went to school, the second half of my life I got an education.
men moral physical-courage
Why is it that, among men, physical courage is a trait so plenteous yet moral courage is a trait so rare?
strong character successful
Surely the test of a novel's characters is that you feel a strong interest in them and their affairs the good to be successful, the bad to suffer failure. Well, in John Ward, you feel no divided interest, no discriminating interest you want them all to land in hell together, and right away.
art flattery compliment
To say a compliment well is a high art and few possess it.
past history facts
I said there was but one solitary thing about the past worth remembering, and that was the fact that it is past-can't be restored.
country average political
All large political doctrines are rich in difficult problems - problems that are quite above the average citizen's reach. And that is not strange, since they are also above the reach of the ablest minds in the country; after all the fuss and all the talk, not one of those doctrines has been conclusively proven to be the right one and the best.
book cat broken
A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razorstrap. A thing 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.
strong history people
History teaches us that whenever a weak and ignorant people possess a thing which a strong and enlightened people want, it must be yielded up peaceably.
believe simple feelings
In God We Trust. It is the choicest compliment that has ever been paid us, and the most gratifying to our feelings. It is simple, direct, gracefully phrased; it always sounds well - In God We Trust. I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true.
baby fighting boys
The old Irish when immersing a babe at baptism left out the right arm so that it would remain pagan for good fighting
lying talking hiking
The true charm of pedestrians does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking.
war home fighting
If the bubble reputation can be obtained only at the cannon's mouth, I am willing to go there for it, provided the cannon is empty. If it is loaded my immortal and inflexible purpose is to get over the fence and go home. My invariable practice in war has been to bring out of every fight two-thirds more men than when I went in. This seems to me Napoleonic in its grandeur.
running heart preacher
It is not a new thing for a thoroughly good and well-meaning preacher´s soft heart to run away with his soft head.