Mark Twain quotes - page 38

This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and spirit. To see the sun sink down, drowned in his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy. (Mark Twain)
Happiness ain't a thing in itself -- it's only a contrast with something that ain't pleasant. . . . And so, as soon as the novelty is over and the force of the contrast dulled, it ain't happiness any longer, and you have to get something fresh. View quote
Mark Twain
More than once I had seen a noble who had gotten his enemy at a disadvantage stop to pray before cutting his throat. View quote
Mark Twain
Where every man in a state has a vote, brutal laws are impossible. View quote
Mark Twain
Nothing incites to money-crimes like great poverty or great wealth. View quote
Mark Twain
The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh. View quote
Mark Twain
I would rather go to bed with Lillian Russell stark naked than Ulysses S. Grant in full military regalia. View quote
Mark Twain
Switzerland is simply a large, lumpy, solid rock with a thin skin of grass stretched over it. View quote
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. View quote
Mark Twain
The kingly office is entitled to no respect. It was originally procured by the highwayman's methods it remains a perpetuated crime, can never be anything but the symbol of a crime. It is no more entitled to respect than is the flag of a pirate. View quote
Mark Twain
Stars are good too. I wish I could get some to put in my hair. But I suppose I never can. You would be surprised to find how far off they are, for they do not look it. When they first showed last night I tried to knock some down with a pole, but it didn't reach, which astonished me. Then I tried clods till I was all tired out, but I never got one. I did make some close shots, for I saw the black blot of the clod sail right into thee midst of the golden clusters forty or fifty times, just barely missing them, and if I could've held out a little longer, maybe I could've got one. (Mark Twain)
Each person is born to one possession which out values all his others -- his last breath. View quote
Mark Twain
The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the promptings of a brave, determined spirit. View quote
Mark Twain
God was left out of the Constitution but was furnished a front seat on the coins of the country. View quote
Mark Twain
Where a blood relation sobs, an intimate friend should choke up, a distant acquaintance should sigh, a stranger should merely fumble sympathetically with his handkerchief. View quote
Mark Twain
A man's house burns down. The smoking wreckage represents only a ruined home that was dear through years of use and pleasant associations. By and by, as the days and weeks go on, first he misses this, then that, then the other thing. And when he casts about for it he finds that it was in that house. Always it is an essential -- there was but one of its kind. It cannot be replaced. It was in that house. It is irrevocably lost. It will be years before the tale of lost essentials is complete, and not till then can he truly know the magnitude of his disaster. View quote
Mark Twain
If there is one thing that will make a man peculiarly and insufferable self-conceited, it is to have his stomach behave itself, the first day at sea, when nearly all his comrades are seasick. View quote
Mark Twain
If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. View quote
Mark Twain
I persuaded him to throw the dirk away; and it was as easy as persuading a child to give up some bright fresh new way of killing itself. View quote
Mark Twain
I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith. It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces. View quote
Mark Twain
You perceive I generalize with intrepidity from single instances. It is the tourist's custom. (Mark Twain)
There are women who have an indefinable charm in their faces which makes them beautiful to their intimates, but a cold stranger who tried to reason the matter out and find this beauty would fail. View quote
Mark Twain
When one's character begins to fall under suspicion and disfavor, how swift, then, is the work of disintegration and destruction. View quote
Mark Twain
There's a good spot tucked away somewhere in everybody. You'll be a long time finding it, sometimes. View quote
Mark Twain
Manifestly, dying is nothing to a really great and brave man. View quote
Mark Twain