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
wedding flower sunshine
A marriage...makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives to two purposeless lives a work, and doubles the strength of each to perform it; it gives to two questioning natures a reason for living, and something to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
sunday america issues
There is no family in America without a clock, and consequently there is no fair pretext for the usual Sunday medley of dreadful sounds that issues from our steeples.
along damage duration electric enjoys fools humor lightning wit
Wit and Humor -- if any difference, it is in duration -- lightning and electric light. Same material, apparently; but one is vivid, and can do damage -- the other fools along and enjoys elaboration.
becomes grounded moment wisdom
Wit, by itself, is of little account. It becomes a moment only when grounded on wisdom.
academy boots born capacity chance greatest happens heaven knew meet military napoleon people shining
Well, we can take you to meet Napoleon -- but he's shining the boots of the person who actually was the world's greatest military genius. He happens to have been a tinsmith from Pennsylvania who never had a chance to go to a military academy -- so he never even knew he was a great military genius. He was born with that capacity -- and only here in heaven do we actually know who these people are.
convict conviction known man people settled
When a man is known to have no settled convictions of his own he can't convict other people
learning trouble wages
What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?
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
age age-and-aging habits life protect reach
We can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you.
benefit ourselves whose
We do no benevolences whose first benefit is not for ourselves
deal facts ourselves
We do not deal much in facts when we are contemplating 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