Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both classics in American literature. Thoughtful Mark Twain quotes will broaden your perspective to strive for more and become the best version of yourself.
If you’re searching for powerful life sayings to share with the people you love or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of Rumi quotes on beauty, Dr Seuss quotes on happiness and wise Maya Angelou quotes.
Best Mark Twain Quotes
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Mark Twain
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. Mark Twain
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience this is the ideal life. Mark Twain
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure. Mark Twain
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform or pause and reflect. Mark Twain
If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first. Mark Twain
The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read. Mark Twain
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well. Mark Twain
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. Mark Twain
Classic a book which people praise and don’t read. Mark Twain
A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. Mark Twain
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Mark Twain
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Mark Twain
Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself. Mark Twain
Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it. Mark Twain
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. Mark Twain
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. Mark Twain
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. Mark Twain
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. Mark Twain
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. Mark Twain
Substitute damn every time you’re inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. Mark Twain
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. Mark Twain
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. Mark Twain
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Mark Twain
I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. Mark Twain
Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option. Mark Twain
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. Mark Twain
I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know. Mark Twain
Buy land, they’re not making it anymore. Mark Twain
But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? Mark Twain
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. Mark Twain
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. Mark Twain
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience this is the ideal life. Mark Twain
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. Mark Twain
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. Mark Twain
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. Mark Twain
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. Mark Twain
Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been. Mark Twain
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain
Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else. Mark Twain
The lack of money is the root of all evil. Mark Twain
Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. Mark Twain
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not. Mark Twain
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. Mark Twain
Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Mark Twain
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Mark Twain
Don’t let schooling interfere with your education. Mark Twain
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. Mark Twain
Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain. Mark Twain
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark Twain
Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. Mark Twain
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man. Mark Twain
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. Mark Twain
If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis informed. Mark Twain
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. Mark Twain
Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other. Mark Twain
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. Mark Twain
The trouble is not in dying for a friend, but in finding a friend worth dying for. Mark Twain
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times. Mark Twain
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? Mark Twain
I can live for two months on a good compliment. Mark Twain
The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. Mark Twain
Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing. Mark Twain
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. Mark Twain
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. Mark Twain
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. Mark Twain
The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark Twain
If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much. Mark Twain
The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Mark Twain
I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone. Mark Twain
Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark Twain
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Mark Twain
When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain. Mark Twain
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. Mark Twain
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen. Mark Twain
Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most. Mark Twain
All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain
I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. Mark Twain
Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. Mark Twain
Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. Mark Twain
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. Mark Twain
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her. Mark Twain
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