“If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”
-Mark Twain
Besides, the cat would have none of it.
On Improving Man
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Category Archives: History Blogs
On Why Writing (Well) is Hard Work
“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.”
Just as you finish it you realize you haven’t even yet begun.
On Learning the Hard Way – and Well
“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”
-Mark Twain
A lesson hard won – such as holding the cat by its tail – need only be learned once, but it is surely learned well.
At least one hopes – and if not, it’s your own damn fault.
On New Years Resolutions
“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. 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, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.”
-Mark Twain, Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863
And thank goodness another New Years is over.
On History
“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice”
-Mark Twain
The story of our past changes with each telling, and each person telling it. As such, it is best, most times, to get a second opinion.
On Frustration with Democrats in Congress
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself.”
–Mark Twain
Suppose the Democrats started to effectively engage the Bush White House on the abuse, incompetence, and deception of the past seven years.
But then I’d just be dreaming.
On the Attitude of Gratitude
“I don’t care much for gratitude of the noisy, boisterous kind. Why, when some men discharge an obligation, you can hear the report for miles around.”
-Mark Twain
Quiet grace is the source of true gratitude.
On “Patriotism” and the Conscience of a Nation
“We have a bastard Patriotism, a sarcasm, a burlesque; but we have no such thing as a public conscience. Politically we are just a joke.”
We get the leaders we deserve, we rally around them and question the patriotism of anyone with the moral courage to point out that the emperor has no clothes.
This is not patriotism, and far worse avowed disloyalty, for it calls itself something for which it is not.
Did I mention that we get the leaders we deserve?
On the Good in Everyone
“There’s a good spot tucked away somewhere in everybody. You’ll be a long time finding it sometimes.”
-Mark Twain, Refuge of the Derelicts
If there is good in every last soul, there are times that it remains hidden, waiting for the faint chance of making an appearance.
Not in all cases, but in some.
On Having a Clear, Honest Sense of Your Own Faults
“Yes, even I am dishonest. Not in many ways, but in some. Forty-one, I think it is.”
-Mark Twain, 1905
Self-knowledge is the key to addressing our faults. A good sesne of humor helps.