Mark Twain

What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.

I never could tell a lie that anybody would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe.

Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.

Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.

The newspaper that obstructs the law on a trivial pretext, for money’s sake, is a dangerous enemy to the public weal.That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.

When in doubt tell the truth.

Is not every man sometimes a radical in politics? Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner, or before taking their rest; when they are sick, or aged. In the morning, or when their intellect or their conscience has been aroused; when they hear music, or when they read poetry, they are radicals.

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

Life is a progress, and not a station.

Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.

Half a man’s wisdom goes with his courage.

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.

The world is its own magic.

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

I do not hesitate to read all good books in translations. What is really best in any book is translatable – any real insight or broad human sentiment.

Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.