Mark Twain

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.

The master minds of all nations, in all ages, have sprung in affluent multitude from the mass of the nation, and from the mass of the nation only – not from its privileged classes.

Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.

We need not worry so much about what man descends from; it’s what he descends to that shames the human race.

A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words… the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.

There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

The most you get is what you ask for.

Hard knocks have a place and value, but hard thinking goes farther in less time.

If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.

I make it a rule never to smoke while I’m sleeping.

It takes an enemy and a friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart. The one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.

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

Since the past is unreal and the future is unreal, all your thoughts are about nothing.

Only when you are kinder to yourself, you can be kinder to the world.

You must demand nothing less than the best of yourself and for yourself. You must tell yourself that it is not wrong to want it all.

I think I am actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.

We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules.

Silence is so accurate.

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.