Mark Twain

Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either.

There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular is providence.

A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.

We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.

Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

Only trust theyself, and another shall noet betray thee

He was doing missionary work. But from the outset he had little success in convincing his charges of their responsibility for a sin committed at the beginning of creation, one which, as they understood it, they were ready and capable (indeed, they carried charms to assure it) of duplicating themselves. He did no better convincing them that a man had died on a tree to save them all: an act which one old Indian, if Gwyon had translated correctly, regarded as “rank presumption”.

They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.

Every person is a God in embryo. Its only desire is to be born.

Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he would be a great soul in future must be a great soul now.

Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.

We do what we must, and call it by the best names.

Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.

Men are apt to mistake the strength of their feeling for the strength of their argument. The heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic.

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul’s estate.

Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o clock is a scoundrel.

Power doesn’t corrupt people; people corrupt power.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years.