13 verified quotes from 4 works, 1869 to 1897.
Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), the American humorist, novelist and travel writer. Many of the lines people quote come from the mock-proverbs he put at the head of chapters, first in Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894) and then in his travel book Following the Equator (1897).
The rest here come from The Innocents Abroad (1869), his account of a tour of Europe and the Holy Land, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Each was found word for word in the Project Gutenberg edition we link.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.
Our note: From the conclusion of Twain's account of a long voyage to Europe and the Holy Land.
Verified in the full text of The Innocents Abroad on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3176
Painted the same decade: The Laundress, Honoré Daumier, 186[3?]
Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Our note: The sentence that follows Twain's remark on travel and prejudice.
Verified in the full text of The Innocents Abroad on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3176
Painted the same decade: The Third-Class Carriage, Honoré Daumier, 1864
He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
Our note: After Tom tricks his friends into paying him for the chance to whitewash a fence.
Verified in the full text of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #74
Painted the same decade: Joan of Arc, Jules Bastien-Lepage, 1879
Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Our note: One of the mock-serious maxims from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" that head each chapter.
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), Paul Gauguin, 1891
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: The Shepherd's Song, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs a step at a time.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: The Shepherd's Song, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: Still Life with Teapot and Fruit, Paul Gauguin, 1896
The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar," with a joke in the last few words.
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: The Dream of the Shepherd (Der Traum des Hirten), Ferdinand Hodler, 1896
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
Our note: From "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar," the maxims that head the chapters of Twain's travel book.
Verified in the full text of Following the Equator on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2895
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
The man with a new idea is a Crank until the idea succeeds.
Our note: From "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Following the Equator on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2895
Painted the same decade: The Dream of the Shepherd (Der Traum des Hirten), Ferdinand Hodler, 1896
Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
Our note: From "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Following the Equator on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2895
Painted the same decade: Serena Pulitzer Lederer (1867–1943), Gustav Klimt, 1899
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
Our note: From "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Following the Equator on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2895
Painted the same decade: The Dream of the Shepherd (Der Traum des Hirten), Ferdinand Hodler, 1896
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