Favorite Quotes of Mark Twain
- Thread starter Houdini
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“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
― Mark Twain
If I'm a work of God, then respect me.
Especially in the morning.
My fave:
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."
I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. -- BST
Houdini in Omaha
I'm not sure I've got the context exactly right but I read about this one from a Kurt Vonnegut book. Vonnegut was a big Twain fan and in one of the introductions to a book, he told the story of Mark Twain going to the opera and being asked what he had thought of it. Twain's reply was:
"I haven't heard anything like that since the orphanage burned down."
"I haven't heard anything like that since the orphanage burned down."
“When a child turns 12, he should be kept in a barrel and fed through a hole, until he reaches 16…at which time you should plug the hole.” -- Mark Twain
Houdini in Omaha
Houdini in Omaha
Writing advice:
“When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.”
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
"Eschew surplusage."
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." (Not necessarily about writing, but I just like it.)
“When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.”
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
"Eschew surplusage."
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." (Not necessarily about writing, but I just like it.)
Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
- Mark Twain -
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain -
- Mark Twain -
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain -
Good thread . . .I will post to this one often.
"If all the fools in this world should die, lordly God how lonely I should be." - Letter to Olivia Clemens,
January 23, 1885
"If all the fools in this world should die, lordly God how lonely I should be." - Letter to Olivia Clemens,
January 23, 1885
