“These wisdoms are for the luring of youth toward high moral altitudes. The author did not gather them from practice, but from observation. To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.”

—  Mark Twain , book Following the Equator

The Pudd'nhead Maxims, preface
Following the Equator (1897)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 28, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "These wisdoms are for the luring of youth toward high moral altitudes. The author did not gather them from practice, bu…" by Mark Twain?
Mark Twain photo
Mark Twain 637
American author and humorist 1835–1910

Related quotes

Thomas Jackson photo

“Good-breeding, or true politeness, is the art of showing men by external signs the internal regard we have for them. It arises from good sense, improved by good company. It must be acquired by practice and not by books.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

Misattributed, Jackson's personal book of maxims

Georg Brandes photo

“In opposition to the aristocratic valuation (good = noble, beautiful, happy, favoured by the gods) the slave morality then is this: The wretched alone are the good; those who suffer and are heavy laden, the sick and the ugly, they are the only pious ones. On the other hand, you, ye noble and rich, are to all eternity the evil, the cruel, the insatiate, the ungodly, and after death the damned. Whereas noble morality was the manifestation of great self-esteem, a continual yea-saying, slave morality is a continual Nay, a Thou shall not, a negation. To the noble valuation good bad (bad = worthless) corresponds the antithesis of slave morality, good evil. And who are the evil in this morality of the oppressed? Precisely the same who in the other morality were the good.”

Georg Brandes (1842–1927) Danish literature critic and scholar

Source: An Essay on Aristocratic Radicalism (1889), pp. 30-31

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe photo

“Noble be man,
Helpful and good!
For that alone
Sets hims apart
From every other creature
On earth.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Das Göttliche

Das Göttliche (The Divine) (1783)

John C. Maxwell photo

“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom though failure. We get very little wisdom from success.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Book Sometimes you win Sometimes you Learn

Jon Anderson photo

“Sweet songs of youth, the wise, the meeting of all wisdom
To believe in the good in man.”

Jon Anderson (1944) English singer

Lyrics of "Loved by the Sun", on the soundtrack of the film Legend (1986).

Suzanne Collins photo

“Okay, listen to me, you're stronger than they are. You are. They just want a good show, that's all they want. You know how to hunt. Show them how good you are.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Pythagoras photo

“You will know that wretched men are the cause of their own suffering, who neither see nor hear the good that is near them, and few are the ones who know how to secure release from their troubles.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

As quoted in Divine Harmony: The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook (1999)
The Golden Verses
Context: You will know that wretched men are the cause of their own suffering, who neither see nor hear the good that is near them, and few are the ones who know how to secure release from their troubles. Such is the fate that harms their minds; like pebbles they are tossed about from one thing to another with cares unceasing. For the dread companion Strife harms them unawares, whom one must not walk behind, but withdraw from and flee.

Leo Tolstoy photo

“To be good and lead a good life means to give to others more than one takes from them.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Source: The First Step (1892), Ch. VII

Related topics