Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

MARK TWAIN, editorial in the Hartford Courant, Aug. 24, 1897

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.

MARK TWAIN, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

MARK TWAIN, Mark Twain’s Notebook

Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

MARK TWAIN, The Bible According to Mark Twain

The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.

MARK TWAIN, Mark Twain’s Notebook