Mark Twain

From his cradle to his grave a man never does a single thing which has any FIRST AND FOREMOST object but one – to secure peace of mind, spiritual comfort, for HIMSELF.

Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.

There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress.

Out of the unconscious lips of babes and sucklings are we satirized.

There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe… the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.

A man’s wife has more power over him than the state has.

How real is any of the past, being every moment revalued to make the present possible.

The god of victory is said to be one-handed, but peace gives victory on both sides.

Oftentimes, it’s the way we react to change that is the thing that determines the overall experience.

Thought makes every thing fit for use.

I answer the heroic question Death where is thy sting? It is here in my heart and mind and memories

The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor.

Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold.

It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.

We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

Remember, when life’s path is steep, to keep your mind even.

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

The thirst for adventure is the vent which Destiny offers; a war, a crusade, a gold mine, a new country, speak to the imagination and offer swing and play to the confined powers.