“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. LXI
Following the Equator (1897)
Source: Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“There's one way to find out if a man is honest: ask him; if he says yes, you know he's crooked.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Letter to an Unidentified Person (1908)
“Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.”
Mark Twain book Following the Equator
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XXVII
Following the Equator (1897)
“Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Source: Notebook
“If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be—a Christian.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Source: Notebook
“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Murder is sometimes punished, free speech always”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
"The Privilege of the Grave" (1905)
Context: As an active privilege, [free speech] ranks with the privilege of committing murder: we may exercise it if we are willing to take the consequences. Murder is forbidden both in form and in fact; free speech is granted in form but forbidden in fact. By the common estimate both are crimes, and are held in deep odium by all civilized peoples. Murder is sometimes punished, free speech always.
“Only the scum of the population do it”
Mark Twain book Roughing It
As quoted in Roughing It http://www.friesian.com/quotes.htm (1872). <br class="br">Roughing It (1872) <br class="br">Context: No California gentleman or lady ever abuses or oppresses a Chinaman, under any circumstances, an explanation that seems to be much needed in the east. Only the scum of the population do it; they and their children. They, and, naturally and consistently, the policemen and politicians, likewise, for these are the dust-licking pimps and slaves of the scum, there as well as elsewhere in America.
“All right, then, I'll go to hell.”
Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Source: Notebook