Mark Twain

The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.

Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial “we.”

It is easier to stay out than get out.

Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.

Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known and I know the rest.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. (The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.)

Words are but the signs of ideas.

I will never do this, says one, yet does it: I am resolved to do this, says another; but flags upon second Thoughts: Or does it, tho’ awkwardly, for his Word’s sake: As if it were worse to break his Word, than to do amiss in keeping it.

Wake up, you’ve been sleeping. Take up your bed and walk. Stop blaming other people. Oh, it’s nobody else’s fault.

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive.

Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe.

The only thing grief as taught me is to know how shallow it is.

The difficult task of knowing another soul is not for young gentlemen whose consciousness is chiefly made up of their own wishes.

All successful men have agreed in one thing – they were causationists. They believed that things went not by luck, but by law; that there was not a weak or a cracked link in the chain that joins the first and last of things.

Here’s the thing: the world is not going to issue you an engraved invitation to this life.

Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

He is useless on top of the ground; he ought to be under it, inspiring the cabbages.

Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.

Your path will unfold as you walk it, step by step, each one a choice. Be mindful of where you put your feet; sometimes you will step on something sharp. This is a lesson; pay attention. Sometimes you will walk on soft green grass and you will stop and stay awhile. Enjoy those moments. Keep your eyes and heart on your destination and discover your way, one step at a time.