Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer.
Here are 34 real Mark Twain quotes ordered by their popularity online. The most quoted quotes on the web appear first. Questionable and fake quotes are excluded. Sources and related information are shown after each quote. We hope you find these quotes useful. If there is anything we can do to improve this article, your feedback is welcome. If you find these quotes helpful, please share them.
1. “Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#1
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#1
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#1
Source: To the Young People's Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn (February 16, 1901).
2. “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#2
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#2
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#2
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#2
Source: More Maxims of Mark (1927) edited by Merle Johnson
3. “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
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#3
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#3
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#3
Source: The Innocents Abroad (1869) Vol. II, Conclusion
4. “If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#4
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#4
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#4
Source: Notebook entry, January or February 1894, Mark Twain's Notebook, ed. Albert Bigelow Paine (1935), p. 240
5. “You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#5
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#5
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#5
Source: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) Ch. 1.
6. “Herodotus says, ‘Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.’”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#6
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#6
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#6
Source and Related Info: A Horse's Tale (1907) Acknowledgements
• Twain does not quote Herodotus here, he only sums up what he believes to have been Herodotus' approach to the writing of history. Nevertheless, this apocryphal statement is now often quoted as being the very words of Herodotus.
7. “Familiarity breeds contempt — and children.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#7
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#7
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#7
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#7
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine
8. “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#8
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#8
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#8
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#8
Source: More Maxims of Mark (1927) edited by Merle Johnson
9. “You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#9
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#9
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#9
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#9
Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) Ch. 43
10. “‘In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot’”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#10
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#10
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#10
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#10
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine p. 413.
11. “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
—Mark Twain
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#11
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#11
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#11
Source: Draft manuscript (c.1881), quoted by Albert Bigelow Paine in Mark Twain: A Biography (1912), p. 724.
12. “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#12
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#12
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#12
Source: Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
13. “Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#13
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#13
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#13
Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) Ch. 22.
14. “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#14
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Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#14
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#14
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#14
Source: Commonly quoted as: "First get your facts, then you can distort them at your leisure."
Rudyard Kipling, An Interview with Mark Twain, p. 180, From sea to sea: letters of travel, 1899, Doubleday & McClure Company. eBook*delaide
15. “Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these ideals they dispute & cannot unite — but they all worship money.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#15
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#15
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#15
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine p. 343.
16. “Carlyle said ‘a lie cannot live.’ It shows that he did not know how to tell them. If I had taken out a life policy on this one the premiums would have bankrupted me ages ago.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#16
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#16
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#16
Source: Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 2 (2013): edited by Benjamin Griffin and Harriet Elinor Smith p. 304
17. “A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#17
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#17
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#17
Source: Letter to Annie Moffett Webster (September 1, 1876).
18. “Honesty is the best policy — when there is money in it.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#18
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#18
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#18
Source: Speech to Eastman College (1901).
19. “The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#19
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
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Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#19
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#19
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine
20. “Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.”
—Mark Twain
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Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#20
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#20
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#20
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#20
Source and Related Info: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine p. 393
• Alternate (also Twain's): Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
21. “There isn't time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instance, so to speak, for that.”
—Mark Twain
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Mark Twain. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#21
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Mark Twain (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#21
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Mark Twain. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#21
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Mark Twain. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#21
Source: By Mark Twain as he reflected back on his life. From the TED Talk "What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness"
22. “I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#22
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#22
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#22
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#22
Source: The Innocents Abroad (1869) Ch. 7.
23. “Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.”
—Mark Twain
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#23
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#23
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#23
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#23
Source: Taming the Bicycle (1917): What is Man? and Other Essays
24. “Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#24
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#24
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#24
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#24
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook (1935): Mark Twain's Notebook (1935) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine p. 381.
25. “Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#25
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#25
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#25
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#25
Source: Extracts From Adam's Diary (1906)
26. “In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue, but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#26
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#26
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#26
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#26
Source: Mark Twain's Autobiography (1924) In revised edition, chapter 78, p. 401, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, 1959, Charles Neider, Harper & Row.
27. “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
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#27
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#27
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#27
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#27
Source and Related Info: Letter to George Bainton, 15 October 1888, solicited for and printed in George Bainton, The Art of Authorship: Literary Reminiscences, Methods of Work, and Advice to Young Beginners (1890), pp. 87–88.
• Twain repeated the lightning bug/lightning comparison in several contexts, and credited Josh Billings for the idea:
• Josh Billings defined the difference between humor and wit as that between the lightning bug and the lightning.
• Speech at the 145th annual dinner of St. Andrew's Society, New York, 30 November 1901, Mark Twain Speaking (1976), ed. Paul Fatout, p. 424
• Billings' original wording was characteristically affected:
• Don't mistake vivacity for wit, thare iz about az mutch difference az thare iz between lightning and a lightning bug.
• Josh Billings' Old Farmer's Allminax, "January 1871". Also in Everybody's Friend, or; Josh Billing's Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor (1874), p. 304.
28. “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#28
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#28
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#28
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#28
Source: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) Notice
29. “I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.”
—Mark Twain
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#29
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#29
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#29
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#29
Source: American Claimant (1892).
30. “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#30
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#30
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#30
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#30
Source: "What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us?" (1897).
31. “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#31
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#31
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#31
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#31
Source: Letter to an Unidentified Person (1908).
32. “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#32
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#32
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#32
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#32
Source: Mark Twain and I by Opie Read
33. “An injurious lie is an uncommendable thing; and so, also, and in the same degree, is an injurious truth—a fact that is recognized by the law of libel.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#33
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#33
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#33
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#33
Source: On the Decay of the Art of Lying
34. “I have no race prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse.”
—Mark Twain
Use the following citations in bold to cite the above quote for reference purposes. To cite multiple quotes, use the cite this page section below.
For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#34
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#34
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#34
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html#34
Source: Concerning the Jews (Harper's Magazine, Sept. 1899)
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For general use. A combination of the APA, Chicago and MLA citation styles.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html
Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.
Twain, Mark (2017, November 15) Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html
Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 15 November 2017, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html
MLA Citation: Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.
Twain, Mark. “Mark Twain Quotes: 34 Sourced Quotes.” Last modified November 15, 2017. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/mark-twain-quotes.html