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
lies-and-lying standard washington
I am different from Washington. I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't.
greater higher lie standard washington
I have a higher and greater standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie but I won't.
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.
care caste color creed human man nor prejudices race stand
I have no race prejudice. I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed, I know it. I can stand any society. All that I care to know is that a man is a human being -- that is enough for me; he can't be any worse.
few stand
Few of us can stand prosperity. Another man's, I mean.
men demand double-standard
The timid man yearns for full value and demands a tenth. The bold man strikes for double value and compromises on par.
cease easiest ought smoking thousand
To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did, I ought to know because I've done it a thousand times.
desire dig hidden life raging rightly somewhere time treasure
There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure
caught crucified
There has been only one Christian. They caught and crucified him early.
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
barely good whiskey
Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough.
belief believing schoolboy
Yet it was the schoolboy who said "Faith is believing what you know ain't so
age age-and-aging dark insanity knew misfortune
(Twain on Cain): it was his misfortune to live in a dark age that knew not the beneficent Insanity Plea
divide full joy love scholars-and-scholarship value
To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.