Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was a great novelist and humorist of the 19th century whose works continue to resonate with many people today.
Twain is also known as a brilliant person with a curious mind and the soul of a wanderer. Due to his extensive travels throughout his life. Some even consider him to be one of the greatest minds of all time.
Many people around the world still quote Mark Twain from memory today, more than a century later.
And in this article, we share 120 of his most well-known quotes about life in general. Ranging from his famous quotes to inspirational quotes, quotes about life, death, and humorous takes. All of these quotes resonate with many people, serving as a sounding board and a guide on how to live this life.
120 Mark Twain Quotes
Mark Twain famous quotes
Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
The lack of money is the root of all evil.
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Comparison is the death of joy.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.
Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.
Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Meaningful Mark Twain quotes
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.…
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.…
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others.
All emotion is involuntary when genuine.
Man is the only animal that blushes – or needs to.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.
Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.
There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.
Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.
Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – ’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.
The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow; there is no humor in Heaven.
A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.
Mark Twain quotes about life
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.
Oh Death where is thy sting! It has none. But life has.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
A full belly is little worth where the mind is starved.
Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.
With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.
It is wiser to find out than suppose.
I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.
Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings. It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one’s head.
Mark Twain quotes about death
Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
Mark Twain quotes about truth
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
Life asked death ,” why do people love me and hate you ? Death replied , ” Because you are a beautiful lie and I’ am a painful truth.”.
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.
Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.
The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
The finest clothing made is a person’s own skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.
Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.
Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain’t so.
A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.
No real gentleman will tell the naked truth in the presence of ladies.
Funny Mark Twain quotes
It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.
Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.
Optimist: day dreamer more elegantly spelled.
Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we.
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
Lord save us all from old age and broken health and a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.
Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.
When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
The main difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives.
Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most
Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.
God created war so that Americans would learn geography.
Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.
When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.
Behind every successful man, there is a woman – And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.
Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eyewitness.
Inspirational Mark Twain quotes
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.
There is nothing much left of me but my age and my righteousness, but I leave with you my love and my blessing, and may you always keep your youth.
Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile.
Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
When all else fails, write what your heart tells you. You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
Character is the architect of achievements.
Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.
Do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked.
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