Famous Mark Twain Quotes: Check out this compilation of some of our favorite Mark Twain quotes if you’re looking for some advice on how to get through life. Mark Twain was a well-known American author who was known for filling his pages with words that were full of humor, wit, wisdom, and insight. Both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are considered to be some of the author’s most renowned works. These are some of the classics that you have almost certainly come across in your studies or elsewhere in your life.
In addition to his work as an author, Mark Twain pursued a wide variety of interests and hobbies outside of the literary world. In addition to being a riverboat pilot, he was also an entrepreneur and an inventor. He had a life that was interesting enough to tell stories about, and the sum of his life’s adventures taught us things that went beyond what we could have learned from narratives. It doesn’t matter how profound his words are; if you take the time to analyze them, you’ll find that there are a lot of important life lessons contained within them. In order to get you started, we have compiled some of his most famous quotes below. Continue reading until the very end so you don’t miss anything!
Famous Mark Twain Quotes
1. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain
2. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain
3. “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; the truth isn’t.” — Mark Twain
4. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” — Mark Twain
5. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” — Mark Twain
6. “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.” — Mark Twain
7. “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” — Mark Twain
8. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain
9. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain
10. “With courage, you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” — Mark Twain
11. “What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth.” — Mark Twain
12. “What do we call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, forgiveness? Different results of the master impulse—the necessity of securing one’s self-approval.” — Mark Twain
13. “The trouble is not in dying for a friend, but in finding a friend worth dying for.” — Mark Twain
14. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
15. “Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful of your life.” — Mark Twain
16. “All good things arrive unto them that wait and don’t die in the meantime.” — Mark Twain
17. “The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.” — Mark Twain
18. “I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.” — Mark Twain
19. “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” — Mark Twain
20. “Do the thing you fear most, and the death of fear is certain.” — Mark Twain
Meaningful Mark Twain Quotes Packed With Insights
22. “The only very marked difference between the average civilized man and the average savage is that the one is gilded and the other is painted.” — Mark Twain
23. “There is no sadder thing than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.” — Mark Twain
24. “Clothes do not merely make the man; clothes are the man.” — Mark Twain
25. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.” — Mark Twain
26. “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
27. “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” — Mark Twain
28. “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.” — Mark Twain
29. “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” — Mark Twain
30. “Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” — Mark Twain
31. “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain
32. “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” — Mark Twain
33. “Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.” — Mark Twain
34. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” — Mark Twain
Mark Twain Quotes About Life and Love to Keep In Mind
36. “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” — Mark Twain
37. “You can’t reason with your heart; it has its own laws and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.” — Mark Twain
38. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” — Mark Twain
39. “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” — Mark Twain
40. “Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.” — Mark Twain
41. “When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” — Mark Twain
42. “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” — Mark Twain
43. “Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.” — Mark Twain
44. “A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.” — Mark Twain
45. “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.” — Mark Twain
46. “Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.” — Mark Twain
47. “To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” — Mark Twain
48. “When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.” — Mark Twain
49. “The lack of money is the root of all evil.” — Mark Twain
50. “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.” — Mark Twain
Funny Mark Twain Quotes
52. “I was born modest, but it didn’t last.” — Mark Twain
53. “I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” — Mark Twain
54. “Classic—a book which people praise and don’t read.” — Mark Twain
55. “Books are the liberated spirits of men.” — Mark Twain
56. “The funniest things are the forbidden.” — Mark Twain
57. “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” — Mark Twain
58. “A full belly is little worth where the mind is starved.” — Mark Twain
59. “Education—the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” — Mark Twain
60. “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” — Mark Twain
61. “Always obey your parents when they are present.” — Mark Twain
62. “Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.” — Mark Twain
63. “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” — Mark Twain
Mark Twain Quotes on Wisdom and Education
65. “I have found out there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” — Mark Twain
66. “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
67. “It liberates the vandal to travel—you never saw a bigoted, opinionated, stubborn, narrow-minded, self-conceited, almighty mean man in your life but he had stuck in one place since he was born and thought God made the world and dyspepsia and bile for his especial comfort and satisfaction.” — Mark Twain
68. “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.” — Mark Twain
69. “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” — Mark Twain
70. “Loyalty to country, always. Loyalty to the government, when it deserves it.” — Mark Twain
71. “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
72. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform—or pause and reflect.” — Mark Twain
73. “The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.” — Mark Twain
74. “God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” — Mark Twain
Have You Looked Into Reading Some of Mark Twain’s Other Works? The words that Mark Twain immortalized in his books provide us with an incredibly detailed picture of history as well as his own experiences throughout his life. He was a witness to America’s many transformations and advances, including the abolition of slavery, the rise of industry, and the development of various technologies, among other things, during his lifetime. He had strong feelings about the things he went through, and he expressed those feelings in his incredible works.
He challenged the norms that society had established, demonstrating his radical and revolutionary nature. Because of him, we gain the understanding that even though our lives are made up of a series of random occurrences, each of us possesses the power necessary to set off a domino effect. We have the ability to tip the scales in the direction of what is right, just, and moral. Mark Twain is, without a doubt, a hero, but in his own special way. Even more than a century after his passing, the ability to change another person’s entire perspective through the use of words is a remarkable feat that can only be accomplished by the most remarkable thinkers.
We hope that this compilation of the best quotes by Mark Twain was able to provide you with some illumination regarding life, society, and everything that lies in between. Use some of his words as a source of inspiration to propel yourself forward on the path to a life that is lived with more significance, purpose, and morality. Which of Mark Twain’s works do you enjoy reading the most, and why? Have any of your favorite quotations been omitted from this list? Please list them down below!
