Although many writers have graced the landscape of American literature, very few have left the legacy of Mark Twain. In addition to his seminal works (The Adventures of Huck Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), he was a prolific enough writer to have had his ideas copped by modern writers (and film makers, and TV show producers, ect). Stories such as The Prince and the Pauper, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (a story of time travel, which would make it Sci-fi!), The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (my personal favorite Twain story – for a free and legal copy of this work, available for download at the Gutenberg Project, CLICK HERE) are all still vital and living works.

 While one can look at the style of the prose itself as a sign of great talent, even more important is what the man actually said with the written word. In my humble opinion, Twain was one of the most insightful writers concerning the study of the human condition. All of humanity’s foibles, faults, heights, and potential fell under that gaze of his pen, and his commentary (both through his fiction work as well as his non-fiction commentaries and columns) is as studied, biting, and truthy as any of the great philosophers of history.

 Unfortunately, Twain’s works have had their share of controversy. Most notable, both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have been attacked (and, in some cases, taken off of school library shelves) as being inherently racist due to the liberal usage of the term “nigger”. And while I understand and sympathize with the sensibilities of those who might be offended by this term, one must take into account that at the time in which Twain wrote the term was not the pejorative that it is now considered. Nigger was, during those times, used in the same fashion that colored, negro, black, and now African-American were used in their respective times – as a descriptive of race. In the interest of perspective, one can argue that the self-same people who wanted to erase Twain’s work from public or school bookshelves would be the last folks to line up to ban the Bible…even though many pages of that book are dedicated to how to properly care for one’s slave. In short, the mistake is in trying to squeeze modern sensibilities’ into a work created in the past; it only makes for a confusion of history and forces an erasure of the past in lieu of potentially learning from it. 

 As a point of fact, Twain’s viewpoints were actually quite liberal for his times. He was an anti-imperialist, an opponent of ‘Big Business’, a strong abolitionist (and even paid out of pocket for a few black men to go to college long before such patronages were fashionable or even acceptable), and a defender of women’s rights. His most venomous comments were generally reserved for the powers that be in his times – robber barons, bankers and politicians. He did make a habit of picking on the French, but it seemed to be as a jest and less of an attack.

 If you have read Twain’s work before, perhaps now would be a good time to revisit his tales; if you’ve never read any of his work, now’s the time to start (The Gutenberg Project has his entire collection available for free and legal download, although I prefer a book in my hands as opposed to a glowing computer screen). Listed below are some of my favorite quotes from the mouth, mind and pen of Mark Twain to get you started; so, by all means, read on!

 (Personal aside: many thanks go out to Professor Ned Johnson, wherever he may be, an amazing educator and the man who reintroduced me to Twain’s works a few years back…and did a ‘dem fine impression of the man himself.)

In the beginning of a change the PATRIOT is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

 Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will

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

 Never let your schooling interfere with your education.

 Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Citizenship? We have none! In place of it we teach patriotism which Samuel Johnson said a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty years ago was the last refuge of the scoundrel -- and I believe that he was right. I remember when I was a boy and I heard repeated time and time again the phrase, 'My country, right or wrong, my country!' How absolutely absurd is such an idea. How absolutely absurd to teach this idea to the youth of the country.

In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination

It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time and annoys the pig. 

 There is something worse than ignorance, and that's knowing what ain't so.

 The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. 

 Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it

 If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed

 There has never been a just one, never an honorable one — on the part of the instigator of war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful — as usual — will shout for the war. The pulpit will — warily and cautiously — object — at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, "It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it." Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers — as earlier — but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation — pulpit and all — will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.