On Learning Wisdom, Eventually
By · Comments“We chase phantoms half the days of our lives. It is well if we learn wisdom even then, and save the other half.”
- Mark Twain
There comes a time in one’s life where he may question, finally, all the distractions of youth that have taken so much time and energy, and see them for what they are: nameless, faceless phantoms of fear and want , without merit or purpose.
Even then, after one has given over half a life to such imaginary phantoms and ghosts, it is worthwhile to to finally see what is important, and then to pursue only that.
On Judging a Book by its Cover
By · Comments“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society”
-Mark Twain
One should refrain, as much as possible, from judging a book merely by its cover. But it is also best when a book has a clean, well-made cover.
On the Real Value of a Good Education
By · Comments“Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.”
-Mark Twain
On Spelling
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I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
-Mark Twain
Mark Twain would not abide spellcheck.
On the Power of Humor
By · CommentsHumor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.
-Mark Twain
A person harboring resentment or fear is best served by finding their sense of humor.
On Another New Year’s Eve
By · Comments“New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.”
-Mark Twain
New Years Eve is one of the saddest holidays of the year; no it is the saddest. People only look happy because they’ve had too much to drink, many with the notion that it is for the last time.
A Letter From Santa Claus
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By Mark Twain
I have received and read all the letters which you and your little sister have written me… I can read your and your baby sister’s jagged and fantastic marks without any trouble at all. But I had trouble with those letters which you dictated through your mother and the nurses, for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well.
You will find that I made no mistakes about the things which you and the baby ordered in your own letters – I went down your chimney at midnight when you were asleep and delivered them all myself – and kissed both of you, too… But there were one or two small orders which I could not fill because we ran out of stock…
On the Meaning of Christmas
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“The xmas holidays have this high value: that they remind Forgetters of the Forgotten, & repair damaged relationships.”
-Mark Twain, letter to Carlotte Welles, 30 December 1907
Christmas is love. All else obscures its essential meaning.
Image credit: caruba, courtesy Flickr
On Keeping an Open Mind and Freeing a Human Soul
By · Comments“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world – and never will.”
-Mark Twain
Freedom begins with keeping an open mind.
On Learning to See
By · Comments“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
-Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
It is with our eyes that we look, but only with our imagination that we see.