“Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all.”

—  Mark Twain

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all." by Mark Twain?
Mark Twain photo
Mark Twain 637
American author and humorist 1835–1910

Related quotes

Dinah Craik photo

“Let Thy wide hand
Gather us all — with none left out (O God!
Leave Thou out none!) from the east and from the west.”

Dinah Craik (1826–1887) English novelist and poet

"April", in Poems (1859)
Context: Awakener, come!
Fiing wide the gate of an eternal year,
The April of that glad new heavens and earth
Which shall grow out of these, as spring-tide grows
Slow out of winter's breast.
Let Thy wide hand
Gather us all — with none left out (O God!
Leave Thou out none!) from the east and from the west.
Loose Thou our burdens: heal our sicknesses;
Give us one heart, one tongue, one faith, one love.
In Thy great Oneness made complete and strong —
To do Thy work throughout the happy world —
Thy world, All-merciful, Thy perfect world.

Confucius photo

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Attributed in Mohammed Sirajul Islam (1967), Everyman's General Knowledge
In fact this is a Chinese saying by a Confucian scholar from the Ming Dynasty, 焦竑 (Jiao Hong) (1540—1620)《玉堂丛语》卷五: 宁为有瑕玉,不作无瑕石。
Misattributed, Chinese

“Any committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who are too busy to want to sit on it for a second longer than they have to.”

Katharine Whitehorn (1928) British writer

Are You Sitting Comfortably?, from Observations (1970)

F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
J. Howard Moore photo
Jeffrey Eugenides photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Jack Layton photo

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

Jack Layton (1950–2011) Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada

"A letter to Canadians from the Honourable Jack Layton." https://pdf.yt/d/RKyhnDdu-DXG3J6s 20 August 2011.
Released upon his death.

L. P. Jacks photo

“Of all the media of expression employed by man (and let us never forget that they are many) none are so unstable, none so quick to change their meaning, as words.”

L. P. Jacks (1860–1955) British educator, philosopher, and Unitarian minister

The Usurpation Of Language (1910)
Context: Of all the media of expression employed by man (and let us never forget that they are many) none are so unstable, none so quick to change their meaning, as words. Even sculpture, architecture, painting, in their noblest works, speak differently under different conditions; but these arts are relatively immortal compared with speech.

Related topics