Archive for Mark Twain Quotes
On Supporting Education or Building Jails
Posted by: | Comments“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.”
-Mark Twain
Allowing schools to slowly wither through lack of funding only means money will be spent later building a jail – social institutions are funded by the public’s priorities. We should consider the implications of what it means when we build a school versus when we build a jail.
More fully supporting one will diminish the other.
On Not Learning from History and Electing Presidents
Posted by: | Comments“History has tried hard to teach us that we can’t have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn’t be wise.”
-Mark Twain in the New York Herald, August 26, 1876
The process of becoming president requires a man of unique skill and talent, most of which are ill-suited for real leadership.
Yeah, so what’s my point?
Here we go again…
On Learning Wisdom, Eventually
Posted 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
Posted 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
Posted 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
Posted 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 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 Learning to See
Posted 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.
On Empathy and the Law of Proportion
Posted by: | Comments“Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.”
-Mark Twain, “Which Was the Dream“
All loss is profound. Comfort is found by seeing equally in other’s sorrow – and joy – a measure of our own.