Tainted, Couples, Freedom

That's right. 'Tain't yours, and 'tain't mine.
~ Mark Twain (when friend said that a certain rich man's money was "tainted")

The happiest couples are those who spell "us" with a capital "you."
~ Klare Provine

False freedom leaves a man free to do what he likes; true freedom, to do what he ought.
~ Anonymous

One's country, Vision, Happiness

My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not its institutions or its officeholders.
~ Mark Twain

A clear vision is usually assumed and rarely communicated.
~ Unknown

A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.
~ John Locke

Patriotism, Adjournment, Research

There are two kinds of patriotism - monarchical patriotism and republican patriotism. In the one case the government and the king may rightfully furnish you their notions of patriotism; in the other, neither the government nor the entire nation is privileged to dictate to any individual what the form of his patriotism shall be. The gospel of the monarchical patriotism is: "The King can do no wrong." We have adopted it with all its servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: "Our country, right or wrong!" We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had - the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. ~
Mark Twain

F.M. Cornford put it so well: Motions for adjournment, made less than fifteen minutes before tea-time or at any subsequent moment, are always carried.

Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research. ~ Wilson Mizner

Lending, Patriotism, Only One You

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
~ Unknown

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.
~ Mark Twain

There is only one you... Don't you dare change just because you're outnumbered!
~ Charles Swindoll

Books, Injustice, Friends

It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good
books which are your very own.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
~ H.L. Mencken

If you're looking for friends when you need them…it's too late.
~ Mark Twain

Storms, Millionaire, Irreverence

Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
~ Stella Terrill Mann

I've never been a millionaire but I just know I'd be darling at it.
~ Dorothy Parker

I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.
~ Mark Twain

Patriot, Variance, Dance

To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, "Our Country,
right or wrong," and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived
that that phrase is an insult to the nation?
~ Mark Twain

In manufacturing, we try to stamp out variance. With people, variance
is everything.
~ Jack Welch

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
~ Japanese Proverb

Encountering minds, and who is education for?

Try to make at least three people smile each day.
~ Advice

A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education is that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.
~ Mark Twain

Positivity...

Love your enemies. It makes them so damn mad!
~ Mark Twain

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.
~ George F. Will

Imagination is the only key to the future. Without it none exists - with it all things are possible.
~ Ida M. Tarbell (1857 -1944)

One of Us

Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.
~ M. Twain

Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
~ Aeschylus

For those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy.
~ Richard Feynman

Science, Reading and Knowledge

"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."

~ Jules Verne

"Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours."

~ John Locke

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I don't know."

~ Mark Twain

Fun Ones

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

~ Doug Larson

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

~ Mark Twain