Mark Twain Inspirational Quotations

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.

A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

I've never let my school interfere with my education.

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.

'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain from smoking when awake.

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

Always do what's right. That will gratify some and surprise the rest.

One thing at a time, is my motto - and just play that thing for all it is worth, even if it's only tto pair and a jack.

What are the proper proportions of a maxim? A minimum of sound to a maximum of sense.

An open mind leaves a chance for someone to drop a worthwhile thought in it.

To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.

The law of work seems unfair, but nothing can change it; the more enjoyment you get out of your work, the more money you will make.

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

One must travel, to learn. Every day, now, old Scriptural phrases that never possessed any significance for me before, take to themselves a meaning.

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.

Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings. It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one's head.

Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.

In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.

You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.

Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.

The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.

The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.

Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.

Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.

I'm glad I did it, partly because it was worth it, but mostly because I shall never have to do it again.

There has been much tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happened.

Sing like no one is listening, LOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN HURT, dance like nobody's watcbing, and live like it's heaven on earth.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.

God created war so that Americans would learn geography.

Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.

The trouble is not in dying for a friend, but in finding a friend worth dying for.

Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.

If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

Those who do not read the news are uninformed. Those who do are misinformed.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.

Life is short, Break the Rules. Forgive quickly, Kiss SLOWLY. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably And never regret ANYTHING That makes you smile.

Suddenly the nickel-clad horse takes the bit in its mouth and goes slanting for the curbstone defying all prayers and all your powers to change its mind - your heart stands still, your breath hangs fire, your legs forget to work.

There is no such thing as an ordinary life.

All say, ‘how hard it is that we have to die’ -- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of those who have had to live.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

Never be haughty to the humble, never be humble to the haughty.

If everyone was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.