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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

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.

It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

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.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

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.

When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.

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.

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.

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.

The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

God created war so that Americans would learn geography.

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

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

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition.

We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.

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

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.

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

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

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

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

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

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?

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

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

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.

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

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.

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.

The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass.

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

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

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

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. There is nothing more satisfying than that sense of being completely "at home" in your own skin. When you achieve that as a natural state of "being", then you can finally look beyond yourself and fully contribute all your talents to the world.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. So many look to eradicate fear from their lives, when that is an impossible task. You can certainly experience moments in absence of fear, however accept that fear will be with you whenever you are in the process of living creatively. The challenge is to go ahead regardless, simply notice the feeling and manage being courageous.

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the "what is next", of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.

Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. You cannot eliminate habits that no longer serve you. You can only replace them with new habits that support your goals. Moment by moment, you need to live with awareness and structure the habits that you include or exclude in your days.

It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. Overnight success is a fallacy. It is preceded by a great deal of preparation. Ask any successful person how they came to this point in their lives, and they will have a story to tell.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. As in the words of Wayne Dyer, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Sometimes to know with certainty that a particular thing is "true", will actually be the very thing that keeps you from attaining the things you seek to achieve.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. You can "already know for sure" things that could actually impede progress. Always be on the lookout for the things you did not know, that you did not know. Secondly, work on strengthening personal belief that a particular will be achieved regardless of any adversity that may show up, or evidence to the contrary.