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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023
Mark Twain book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
"Official Report to the I.I.A.S.", p. 126
Papers of the Adams Family (1939)
Source: Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings
“The source of all humor is not laughter, but sorrow.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow; there is no humor in heaven.
“If man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Source: Notebook
“High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Ah, if he could only die temporarily!”
Mark Twain book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Source: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
“Never be haughty to the humble, never be humble to the haughty.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“H'aint we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?”
Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Source: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), Ch. 26
Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Said to portrait painter Samuel Johnson Woolf, cited in Here am I (1941), Samuel Johnson Woolf; this has often been abbreviated: Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.
Context: A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use.
“It's not what you don't know that kills you, it's what you know for sure that ain't true.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.
“Plain question and plain answer make the shortest road out of most perplexities.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist