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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Human nature7 quotes
Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to. — Mark Twain · 1897Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. — Mark Twain · 1893Everything has its limit—iron ore cannot be educated into gold. — Mark Twain · 1906A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs. — Mark Twain · 1897There's a good spot tucked away somewhere in everybody. You'll be a long time finding it, sometimes. — Mark Twain · 1910No man has a wholly undiseased mind; that in one way or another all men are mad. — Mark Twain · 1910All 7 quotes →Morality5 quotes
Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897Principles have no real force except when one is well fed. — Mark Twain · 1893Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain · 1896Be good and you will be lonesome. — Mark Twain · 1897Custom and convention4 quotes
Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either. — Mark Twain · 1897Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain · 1896Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. — Mark Twain · 1906Dark side of human nature3 quotes
Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. — Mark Twain · 1897No man has a wholly undiseased mind; that in one way or another all men are mad. — Mark Twain · 1910Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. — Mark Twain · 1910Law3 quotes
Necessity knows no law. — Mark Twain · 1869Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either. — Mark Twain · 1897Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. — Mark Twain · 1906Moral principles3 quotes
Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897Principles have no real force except when one is well fed. — Mark Twain · 1893Be good and you will be lonesome. — Mark Twain · 1897Moral theory3 quotes
Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897Principles have no real force except when one is well fed. — Mark Twain · 1893Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896Progress3 quotes
Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. — Mark Twain · 1884The man with a new idea is a Crank until the idea succeeds. — Mark Twain · 1897The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them. — Mark Twain · 1897Truth3 quotes
Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. — Mark Twain · 1897There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. — Mark Twain · 1884Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. — Mark Twain · 1897Adam2 quotes
Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. — Mark Twain · 1893Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. — Mark Twain · 1894Anti-monarchism2 quotes
All kings is mostly rapscallions. — Mark Twain · 1884The kingly office is entitled to no respect. It was originally procured by the highwayman's methods; it remains a perpetuated crime, can never be anything but the symbol of a crime. — Mark Twain · 1888Boat2 quotes
It’s lovely to live on a raft. — Mark Twain · 1884We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. — Mark Twain · 1884Conservatism2 quotes
Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. — Mark Twain · 1884The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them. — Mark Twain · 1897Coveting2 quotes
In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. — Mark Twain · 1876The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become. — Mark Twain · 1895Death2 quotes
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. — Mark Twain · 1894Death, the refuge, the solace, the best and kindliest and most prized friend and benefactor of the erring, the forsaken, the old, and weary, and broken of heart, whose burdens be heavy upon them, and who would lie down and be at rest. — Mark Twain · 1883Death as a blessing2 quotes
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. — Mark Twain · 1894Death, the refuge, the solace, the best and kindliest and most prized friend and benefactor of the erring, the forsaken, the old, and weary, and broken of heart, whose burdens be heavy upon them, and who would lie down and be at rest. — Mark Twain · 1883Delusion2 quotes
One never ceases to make a hero of one's self (in private). — Mark Twain · 1873Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist but you have ceased to live. — Mark Twain · 1897Education2 quotes
Everything has its limit—iron ore cannot be educated into gold. — Mark Twain · 1906We believe that out of the public school grows the greatness of a nation. — Mark Twain · 1900Ego2 quotes
When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet in his private heart no man much respects himself. — Mark Twain · 1897One never ceases to make a hero of one's self (in private). — Mark Twain · 1873God2 quotes
God made man, without man's consent, and made his nature, too; made it vicious instead of angelic, and then said, Be angelic, or I will punish you and destroy you. But no matter, God is responsible for everything man does, all the same; He can't get around that fact. There is only one Criminal, and it is not man. — Mark Twain · 1910The book of nature tells us distinctly that God cares not a rap for us—nor for any living creature. — Mark Twain · 1898God and man2 quotes
God made man, without man's consent, and made his nature, too; made it vicious instead of angelic, and then said, Be angelic, or I will punish you and destroy you. But no matter, God is responsible for everything man does, all the same; He can't get around that fact. There is only one Criminal, and it is not man. — Mark Twain · 1910The book of nature tells us distinctly that God cares not a rap for us—nor for any living creature. — Mark Twain · 1898Heaven2 quotes
The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. — Mark Twain · 1897The election makes me think of a story of a man who was dying. He had only two minutes to live, so he sent for a clergyman and asked him, “Where is the best place to go to?” He was undecided about it. So the minister told him that each place had its advantages—heaven for climate, and hell for society. — Mark Twain · 1901Humor2 quotes
The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. — Mark Twain · 1897Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. — Mark Twain · 1910Irreverence2 quotes
True irreverence is disrespect for another man's god. — Mark Twain · 1897Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense. — Mark Twain · 1889Love2 quotes
Familiarity breeds contempt—and children. — Mark Twain · 1894No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. — Mark Twain · 1894Man and animals2 quotes
Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to. — Mark Twain · 1897Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. — Mark Twain · 1910Money2 quotes
Unexpected money is a delight. The same sum is a bitterness when you expected more. — Mark Twain · 1878Virtue never has been as respectable as money. — Mark Twain · 1869Moral relativism2 quotes
Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain · 1896Patriotism2 quotes
My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. — Mark Twain · 1889The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it. — Mark Twain · 1905Politics2 quotes
I asked Tom if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says:
"Yes, the little ones does." — Mark Twain · 1894The chances are that a man cannot get into congress now without resorting to arts and means that should render him unfit to go there. — Mark Twain · 1873