Quotes from Mark Twain

There are wealthy gentlemen in En-gland who drive four-horse passenger coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.

only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.

and when I waked up in the morning, drat it all, I had forgot what my name was.

El saber no era bueno para las gentes vulgares y quizá podía descontentarles con la suerte de Dios les había señalado en este mundo, y Dios no tolera que nadie esté descontento de sus planes. Teníamos

le Dieu que tu te forges n'est qu'une chimère dont la sotte existence ne se trouva jamais que dans la tête des fous ; c'est un fantôme inventé par la méchanceté des hommes, qui n'a pour but que de les tromper, ou de les armer les uns contre les autres.

That which I have seen, in that one little moment, will never go out from my memory, but will abide there; and I shall see it all the days, and dream of it all the nights, till I die. Would God I had been blind!

It is the spirit that stoopeth the shoulders, I ween, and not the weight; for armor is heavy, yet it is a proud burden, and a man standeth straight in it.

The choir always tittered and whispered all through service. There was once a church choir that was not ill bred, but I have forgotten where it was, now. It was a great many years ago and I can scarcely remember anything about it, but I think it was in some foreign country.

Poor little creatures! she said. What can a person's heart be made of that can pity a Christian's child and yet can't pity a devil's child, that a thousand times more needs it!

Seien Sie vorsichtig mit Gesundheitsbüchern - Sie könnten an einem Druckfehler sterben.

Dan's voice rose on the air: Oh, bring some soap, why don't you! The reply was Italian. Dan resumed: Soap, you know—soap. That is what I want—soap. S-o-a-p, soap; s-o-p-e, soap; s-o-u-p, soap. Hurry up! I don't know how you Irish spell it, but I want it. Spell it to suit yourself, but fetch it. I'm freezing.

Why, you simple creatures, the weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.

The grave of Adam! How touching it was, here in a land of strangers, far away from home, & friends, & all who cared for me thus to discover the grave of a blood relation. True, a distant one, but still a relation.

Stay away from those people who try to disparage your ambitions. Small minds will always do that, but great minds will give you a feeling that you can become great too.

Prov'dence don't fire no blank ca'tridges, boys.

He was well born, as the saying is, and that's worth as much in a man as it is in a horse, so the Widow Douglas said...

I never let schooling interfere with my education

Away off in the flaming sunshine, Cardiff Hill lifted its soft green sides through a shimmering veil of heat, tinted with the purple of distance; a few birds floated on lazy wing high in the air; no other living thing was visible but some cows, and they were asleep.

Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?

In fact, he was become a hero to all who knew him except his own family—these only saw nothing in him.

y por fin nuestra curiosidad pudo más que nuestros temores; nos arriesgamos a retroceder, aunque lentamente y dispuestos a salir huyendo a la menor alarma.

History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.

His grandeurs were stricken valueless: they seemed to fall away from him like rotten rags. The procession moved on, and still on, through ever augmenting splendours and ever augmenting tempests of welcome; but to Tom Canty they were as if they had not been. He neither saw nor heard. Royalty had lost its grace and sweetness; its pomps were become a reproach. Remorse was eating his heart out. He said, "Would God I were free of my captivity!

Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.