“Guides cannot master the subtleties of the American joke.”

—  Mark Twain, book The Innocents Abroad

Source: The Innocents Abroad (1869), Ch. 27

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 "Guides cannot master the subtleties of the American joke." by Mark Twain?
Mark Twain photo
Mark Twain637
American author and humorist 1835–1910

Related quotes

“Bookish people, who are often maladroit people, persist in thinking they can master any subtlety so long as it's been shaped into acceptable expository prose.”

Carol Shields Unless

Source: Unless

Ann Coulter photo

“You know, OK, I made a few jokes — and they killed 3000 Americans. Fair trade.”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

In response to request by a representative of Muslims for America to stop using the term &quot;raghead&quot; as detrimental to the cause of moderation, alienating to all Muslims and angering many, at a CPAC Conference Q&amp;A (10 February 2006) http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2200579605&amp;topic=218. <br class="br">2006

David Woodard photo

“The Master Great Cultural Figure cannot be communicated with, at all.”

David Woodard (1964) American writer, conductor and businessman

Breed the Unmentioned (1985)

George W. Bush photo

“American foreign policy must be more than the management of crisis. It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American influence into generations of democratic peace.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

1990s, A Distinctly American Internationalism (November 1999)

George Boole photo

“The principles of the theory of probabilities [cannot] serve to guide us in the election of… [scientific] hypotheses.”

George Boole (1815–1864) English mathematician, philosopher and logician

Source: 1850s, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854), p. 375, as cited in: Lev D. Beklemishev (2000) Provability, Computability and Reflection, p. 432

Iain Banks photo

“I am, as I have always been, of the opinion that while the niceties of normal moral constraints should be our guides, they must not be our masters.”

Iain Banks Culture series

Source: Culture series, Excession (1996), Chapter 8 “Killing Time” section VII (p. 269).

Vladimir Putin photo

“It's difficult to talk to people who whisper even at home, afraid of Americans eavesdropping on them. It’s not a figure of speech, not a joke, I'm serious.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

(17 April 2014) http://on.rt.com/vqds8o <br class="br">2011 - 2015

Prem Rawat photo

“Q:So God cannot teach anything, except through a Master?”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

A: What is God? You don't know what God is. God cannot be a human being. God is Light; God is power. God cannot talk. Electricity cannot give light. Only the bulb gives light, but electricity has to be put through the wire for the bulb to give light. It's power. Power cannot do anything; it has to be put through a medium. Yes?
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2, 1971
1970s

William Carlos Williams photo

“Being an art form, verse cannot be "free" in the sense of having no limitations or guiding principle.”

William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American poet

As quoted in Free Verse. Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics 2nd ed (1975)
General sources

Related topics