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
luck ignorant way
It is strange the way the ignorant and inexperienced so often and so undeservedly succeed when the informed and the experienced fail.
cat boys two
The proverb says, "Born lucky, always lucky," and I am very superstitious. As a small boy I was notoriously lucky. It was usual for one or two of our lads (per annum) to get drowned in the Mississippi or in Bear Creek, but I was pulled out in a 2/3 drowned condition 9 times before I learned to swim, and was considered to be a cat in disguise.
poverty wealth crime
Nothing incites to money-crimes like great poverty or great wealth.
religious thoughtful simple
That is a simple rule, and easy to remember. When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters.
memories loss grieving
It will take mind and memory months and possibly years to gather together the details, and thus learn and know the whole extent of the loss.
forgiveness memories mean
In forgiving, people are not being asked to forget. On the contrary, it is important to remember, so that we should not let such atrocities happen again. Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. It means taking what happened seriously...drawing out the sting in the memory that threatens our entire existence.
may hills prosperity
When you ascend the hill of prosperity, may you not meet a friend.
thinking voice public-opinion
Public opinion is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.
men self approval-of-others
Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, Corn-Pone stands for Self-Approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is Conformity.
flower thinking care
He does not care for flowers. Calls them rubbish, and cannot tell one from another, and thinks it is superior to feel like that.
money mines tainted
His money is twice tainted: taint yours and taint mine.
new-year dozen littles
A new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old, and frayed out, and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it.
garden novelty natural
We take a natural interest in novelties, but it is against nature to take an interest in familiar things.
ignorance men knowledge-and-ignorance
I would rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge, because I have so much of it.