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
schooling interfere
I do not allow my schooling to interfere with my education
travel humorous foreigners
They spell it da Vinci and pronounce it da Vinchy. Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.
humorous ophelia thee
But soft you, the fair Ophelia: Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws, But get thee to a nunnery - go!
liars humorous ambitious
... an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often picturesque liar.
humorous modern inconvenience
... all the modern inconveniences ...
men sheep ideas
To create man was a quaint and original idea, but to add the sheep was tautology.
desire riches poverty
No, I have no desire for riches. Honest poverty and a conscience, torpid through virtuous inaction, are more to me than corner lots and praise.
believe portraits canvas
I believe I have had the most trouble with a portrait which I painted in installments - the head on one canvas and the bust on another.
hands soul looks
I am living a new and exalted life of late. It steeps me in a sacred rapture to see a portrait develop and take soul under my hand. First, I throw off a study - just a mere study, a few apparently random lines - and to look at it you would hardly ever suspect who it was going to be; even I cannot tell, myself.
men hands may
A man may plan as much as he wants to, but nothing of consequence is likely to come of it until the magician circumstance steps in and takes the matter off his hands.
bills sound nye
The late Bill Nye once said, 'I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds.
mirrors people glimpse
This autobiography of mine is a mirror, and I am looking at myself in it all the time. Incidentally I notice the people that pass along at my back - I get glimpses of them in the mirror - and whenever they say or do anything that can help advertise me and flatter me and raise me in my own estimation, I set these things down in my autobiography.
fun world body
A good and wholesome thing is a little harmless fun in this world; it tones a body up and keeps him human and prevents him from souring.
failure secret judgment
It is not in the least likely that any life has ever been lived which was not a failure in the secret judgment of the person who lived it.