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
acts himself known led life none wee
What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself
benefit ourselves whose
We do no benevolences whose first benefit is not for ourselves
barely good whiskey
Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough.
birth grieve involved rejoice
Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved
gets heaps moralist political questions trouble
Yes, you are right - I am a moralist in disguise; it gets me into heaps of trouble when I go thrashing around in political questions
belief believing schoolboy
Yet it was the schoolboy who said "Faith is believing what you know ain't so
lightning thunder
Thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.
knowing loudest
The person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
body promise surest
To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing
astonished boy father hardly ignorant learned man seven stand
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.
boy building closed education farmer jail public river save schools spoke stopped time
When I was a boy on the Mississippi River there was a proposition in a township there to discontinue public schools because they were too expensive. An old farmer spoke up and said if they stopped building the schools they would not save anything, because every time a school was closed a jail had to be built.
life recognize trivial wisdom
We recognize that there are no trivial occurences in life
intended nobody offers pay somebody three until within wood writers-and-writing
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.
adversity ascend golden hill meet prosperity toast
There is an old-time toast which is golden for its beauty. "When you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend.