Mark Twain

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle; …they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; …those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It comes at last-the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them-and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, …a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.

I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.

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

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Big doors swing on little hinges.

My evening visitors, if they cannot see the clock should find the time in my face.

Glances of true beauty can be seen in the faces of those who live in true meekness.

The first thing a great person does, is make us realize the insignificance of circumstance.

You sold me a dream and it shattered. I didn’t know how to put it back together again. So instead, I’m lovingly gluing those fragments anew with seams of gold, creating a vibrant new dream, rendering the broken strong and more than ever, breathtakingly beautiful.

The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal.

From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.

It is easy – terribly easy – to shake a man’s faith in himself. To take advantage of that to break a man’s spirit is devil’s work.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

Say what you have to say and first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending; sit down.

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.

There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.