He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.
~ Mark Twain

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The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
~ Mark Twain

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Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
~ Mark Twain

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Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever. By forever, I mean thirty years.
~ Mark Twain

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When in doubt, tell the truth.
~ Mark Twain

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To create man was a fine and original idea; but to add the sheep was a tautology.
~ Mark Twain

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Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion.
~ Mark Twain

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If you would have your work last forever, and by forever I mean fifty years, it must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach, but it must covertly preach and covertly teach.
~ Mark Twain

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Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
~ Mark Twain

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Definition of a classic — something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
~ Mark Twain

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