Mark Twain Quotes

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." — Mark Twain
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"It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." — Mark Twain
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"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." — Mark Twain
As quoted in I Meet Mark Twain (1938) pg. 66 The authenticity of this quote is dubious, as it was a recollection of a woman from decades before, when she was a little child. However, there is no reason to doubt that Twain himself did say something proactive and encouraging to her. Add Category or Author

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." — Mark Twain
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"There has been much tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happened." — Mark Twain
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"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." — Mark Twain
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"I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram saying 'flee at once - all is discovered.' They all left town immediately." — Mark Twain
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"Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." — Mark Twain
As quoted in Autobiography with Letters (1939) pg. 965 Add Category or Author

"God's great cosmic joke on the human race was requiring that men and women live together in marriage" — Mark Twain
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"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him." — Mark Twain
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"To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with." — Mark Twain
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." — Mark Twain
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"The holy passion of friendship is so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring in nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money." — Mark Twain
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"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them." — Mark Twain
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"I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up." — Mark Twain
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"Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." — Mark Twain
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"Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." — Mark Twain
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"What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce." — Mark Twain
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"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." — Mark Twain
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"The past may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme" — Mark Twain
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"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." — Mark Twain
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