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Mark Twain Quotes - Page 53

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I conceive that the right way to write a story for boys is to write so that it will not only interest boys but strongly interest any man who has ever been a boy. That immensely enlarges the audience.

I conceive that the right way to write a story for boys is to write so that it will not only interest boys but strongly interest any man who has ever been a boy. That immensely enlarges the audience.

Mark Twain
Writing, Boys, Men
Mark Twain, Hamlin Lewis Hill (1967). “Mark Twain's Letters to His Publishers, 1867-1894”, p.314, Univ of California Press

It was the schoolboy who said, ""Faith is believing what you know ain't so.""

Mark Twain
Faith, Atheist, Believe
Following the Equator ch. 12, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" (1897)

Independence-is loyalty to one's best self and principles, and this is often disloyalty to the general idols and fetishes.

Mark Twain
Single, Loyalty, Self

There have been innumerable Temporary Seekers after the Truth-have you ever heard of a permanent one?

Mark Twain
Truth, Heard, Has Beens

God's great cosmic joke on the human race was requiring that men and women live together in marriage

Mark Twain
Marriage, Men, Race

Experience is an author's most valuable asset; experience is the thing that puts the muscle and the breath and the warm blood into the book he writes.

Mark Twain
Book, Writing, Blood
Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.110, Courier Corporation

The frankest and freest and privatest product of the human mind and heart is a love letter.

Mark Twain
Heart, Mind, Letters
Mark Twain (2010). “Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review”, p.23, Univ of Wisconsin Press

I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English―it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them―then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.

Mark Twain
Flower, Writing, Mean

When you want genuine music -- music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whisky, go right through you like Brandreth's pills, ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pin-feather pimples on a picked goose, -- when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!

Mark Twain
Home, Piano, Want
Mark Twain (1979). “Early Tales and Sketches 1864-1869”, p.235, Univ of California Press

When the time comes that a man has had his dinner, then the true man comes to the surface

Mark Twain
Food, Men, Dinner
Mark Twain (1984). “Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims and other salutary platform opinions”, Harpercollins

There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular one is Providence.

Mark Twain
God, Religious, Responsibility
Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.387, Courier Corporation

It is no use to keep private information which you can't show off.

Mark Twain
Writing, Use, Information
Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.27, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

A man can be a Christian or a patriot, but he can't legally be a Christian and a patriot - except in the usual way: one of the two with the mouth, the other with the heart.

Mark Twain
Christian, Heart, Men
Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.350, Courier Corporation

But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of therest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.

Mark Twain
Aunt, Light, Territory
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ch. 43 (1884)

But it is a blessed provision of nature that at times like these, as soon as a man's mercury has got down to a certain point there comes a revulsion, and he rallies. Hope springs up, and cheerfulness along with it, and then he is in good shape to do something for himself, if anything can be done.

Mark Twain
Cheer, Spring, Blessed
Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.1181, Delphi Classics

All large political doctrines are rich in difficult problems - problems that are quite above the average citizen's reach. And that is not strange, since they are also above the reach of the ablest minds in the country; after all the fuss and all the talk, not one of those doctrines has been conclusively proven to be the right one and the best.

Mark Twain
Country, Average, Political

If we should deal out justice only, in this world, who would escape? No, it is better to be generous, and in the end more profitable, for it gains gratitude for us, and love.

Mark Twain
Gratitude, Kindness, Compassion
Mark Twain (2010). “Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1: The Complete and Authoritative Edition”, p.180, Univ of California Press

It was not that Adam ate the apple for the apple's sake, but because it was forbidden. It would have been better for us-oh infinitely better for us-if the serpent had been forbidden

Mark Twain
Religious, Apples, Sake
Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.3, Courier Corporation

It is often the case that a man who can't tell a lie thinks he is the best judge of one.

Mark Twain
Lying, Men, Thinking
Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.237, Courier Corporation

It is easy to find fault, if one has that disposition. There was once a man who, not being able to find any other fault with his coal, complained that there were too many prehistoric toads in it.

Mark Twain
Animal, Men, Coal
Pudd'nhead Wilson ch. 9, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" (1894)

Nothing helps scenery like bacon and eggs.

Mark Twain
Funny, Humorous, Food
Mark Twain (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations”, p.44, Courier Corporation

An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before.

Mark Twain
Inspiration, Doe, Done
Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.7, Courier Corporation

It is human to exaggerate the merits of the dead.

Mark Twain
Exaggeration Is, Merit, Humans
Mark Twain (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations”, p.49, Courier Corporation

Intellectual ''work'' is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward.

Mark Twain
Work, Intellectual, Society
Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.1320, Delphi Classics

I think I can say, and say with pride, that we have some legislatures that bring higher prices than any in the world.

Mark Twain
Pride, Thinking, World
Address on the 4th of July, delivered 4 July 1899, London, England

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