Quotes About Mark Twain

am an anti-imperialist," Mark Twain told the reporters at dockside. "I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."12

I am an anti-imperialist," Mark Twain told the reporters at dockside. "I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.

I am drawn to Tom Sawyer Island because a tribute to Mark Twain would not be out of place in a theme park of my own design. Should Vowell World ever get enough investors, I'm going to stick my Tom Sawyer Island in Love and Death in the American Novel Land right between the Jay Gatsby Swimming Pool and Tom Joad's Dust Bowl Lanes, a Depression-themed bowling alley renting artfully worn-out shoes.

He believes it might have been Mark Twain who said that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

I smoke in moderation. Only one cigar at a time.

Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value.

This reminded me of the peril of applying analogies in geopolitics, best encapsulated in Mark Twain's line: "A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But he won't sit on a cold stove either.

Those who have heard me speak from time to time know that quite often I cite the observation of that great American author, Mark Twain, who said, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time.

Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living.

Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.

It is by the goodness of god that in our country we have those 3 unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

Mark Twain said, "The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.

Mark Twain said it best: "I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." Think about that for a moment. Fear is rooted in what may happen, something that does not even exist in reality. Yet how frequently we allow this emotion to consume our thoughts, ultimately deciding the course of our lives

Not a single right is indestructible: a new might can at any time abolish it, hence, man possesses not a single permanent right. God is Might (and He is shifty, malicious, and uncertain).

I am admonished in many ways that time is pushing me inexorably along. I am approaching the threshold of age; in 1977 I shall be 142.

We called him Barney for short. We couldn't use his real name, there wasn't time.

Golden rule: Made of hard metal so it could stand severe wear, it not being known at that time that butter would answer.

We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents.

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.

I always take Scotch whiskey at night as a preventive of toothache. I have never had the toothache; and what is more, I never intend to have it.

Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain't that a big enough majority in any town?

One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.

I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram saying 'flee at once - all is discovered.' They all left town immediately.