Mark Twain is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers in US history and he is also well known for his rapier wit and brilliant quotes. This is a list of 20 dazzling quotes by Mark Twain.
1. Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
2. An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven’t been done before.
3. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
4. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
5. Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
6. Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
7. Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.
8. Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.
9. I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.
10. I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.
11. I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.
12. I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.
13. In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.
14. It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
15. It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
16. Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
17. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
18. Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.
19. Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
20. We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.

















October 27th, 2008 at 2:37 am
I would enjoy a top 10 list of idiots who got to be the prime Minister of UK, something along those lines JFrater
October 27th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Great gut, Twain.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:43 am
I mean, “great guy.”
October 27th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Great list! Twains such an awesome guy. I wish I could be that witty, then more people would listen to me.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:28 am
“Write a witty saying and your name will live forever” – anonymous.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:33 am
I would have been number 4, but someone doesn’t know how to spell or at least they have a thing for the numbers 2 and 3.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:53 am
no. 15 hangs on my wall!!
October 27th, 2008 at 4:38 am
“Write a witty saying and your name will live forever” – anonymous.
haha, tragic.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:05 am
I’ve seen no. 15 being attributed to Abraham Lincoln in the past?? It’s also been said that Twain has had many quotes attributed to himswlf which he never said so how do we know who said what?
Some great lines there tho!!
October 27th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Great list, just the thing for a Monday morning. One of my favorites:
“Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute.”
October 27th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Dont we allready have this list?
October 27th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Awesome, I love Mark Twain.
Took me until forever to actual get one of his books and read it, but I loved it. Then again, I could have hated his book and still thought he was great.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:59 am
does the adventures of mark twain have anything to do with this mark twain? if so it does take away from these witty quotes!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Great list – the pen is mightier than the sword.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:18 am
jfrater: There’s already a Mark Twain quotes list!!!!!!!!!
http://listverse.com/people/20-great-mark-twain-quotes/
…
October 27th, 2008 at 6:35 am
good one jfrater! very interesting list
October 27th, 2008 at 7:03 am
ha! I’ve never heard number 3 in any context.
Love it…
October 27th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Kreachure: yeh, I immeadiately thought the same.. But, hey. there’s nothing wrong with 40 great quotes by S.L.C., is there? It’s just that the title should propably read “Another….” like previous continued-lists on this site.
BTW, I seem to break the rule of #15 practically with every comment I make on List Universe.!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Poor Mark Twain. He and Ben Franklin get blamed for all sorts of silly things they never said.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Did I mention how much I am disappointed by the pop-up ad I get whenever I visit this site?
Well I will now. Very disappointing.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:09 am
He was a guru in his era – and still is – nice list.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:25 am
A witty saying proves nothing
October 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I love Mark Twain! I have simply pages and pages of wonderful things he said.
22.Mongoose, witty sayings alone prove nothing. Luckily, Twain was smart enough to write several brilliant novels and handfuls of wonderful shortstories to prove his greatness.
20. Wally, change your browser to Firefox and you’ll eliminate popups and popunders immediately.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
“It aint what we dont know that gets us into trouble, its what we know for sure, that just aint so”
-Twain…
this ones my fav
October 27th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I thought this was already a list.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am
yeah i am also getting dejavu about this list
October 27th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Another American treasure to the world.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
You need to change the header for this list to “ANOTHER” 20 Great quotes of Mark Twain.
One of my favorite old-time writers.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Mark Twain’s quotes are simply the best. They never fail to make me smile. Another entertaining list!
October 27th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
i love reading list iv already read………. cough sarcasm cough
October 27th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
People are being rude today.
James et all:
It’s not the same list. There is another Twain quotes list. It was a contribution by Anon and not a Jfrater list. It has different quotes on it. Ergo…new day, new list. Stop complaining. Eesh.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Okay – Callie is right – the lists are different – the fault was me forgetting to put “more” in the title of this list – which I have now done
October 27th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
15. It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
That one is credited to a number of people, from Lincoln to Groucho.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
wise
genius
nice list..
another source of quotes for my DTR.
hehehe..
October 27th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
only quote thats gonna save your ass when you mess up is clearly.
“Dingo Took My Baby”
gets em everytime
October 27th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Great list, my favourite is definitely #9
October 27th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I wrote the other list, and I have no problem with another. Well done!
October 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Another great list, I love Twain. I’d say some of the commentors could benefit from practicing number 15 though.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
theres plenty more amazing quotes still not mentioned
go to heaven for the climate hell for the company
that is him, isnt it?
October 27th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Sounds like a typical, pompous, american twat to me.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
You make a great arguement, judgmental dumbass.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Oh Nobba I’m sure he really thought highly of the French, for whatever reason I do not know. The thing about liberals is they can make fun of themselves but no one else can.
“Abstinence cannot be carried to too great an extent. In my enthusiasm for it I often abstain from abstinence altogether.” Didn’t reinvent the wheel but I liked it.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
And yes, it is a Mark Twain exerpt.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
this guy sold crack to kids people !
October 27th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
mark twain is one wierd guy
October 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Mark Twain is pretty neat-o burrito…
And he kind of looks like a thin Colonel Sanders… So he’s got that.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Lizzie,
Yeah, No. 15 always seems a little too close to home to be comfortable. What’s the old poker saying? “If, after the first five minutes, you don’t know who the fool at the table is, it’s you”
Speaking of pertinent – No. 16 reminded me of the hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde’s recent farewell letter.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/18/banking-useconomy or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lahde
October 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Nobba-that ain`t a nice thing to say about us true pompus American Twats.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Most humble apologies, bigski. Good to see someone with a sense of humour.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:43 am
And to you, #41. Why so hostile? Lighten up, Francis. Oh, and I believe it’s argument.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Wish Twain was still alive, to give us more sensible gems of advise!!!!!
October 28th, 2008 at 2:16 am
advice??? I mean
October 28th, 2008 at 2:18 am
LOL AT THE TIME MY COMMENTS ARE POSTED ON THIS SITE ACCORDING TO YOU!!. OOps didn’t mean to shout.
In Australia its 8.17pm now.
Hello to all the American & European night owls!!!
October 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Who’s funeral was he refering to?
October 28th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life”
Perfectly said.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I resent quote 2. Fuck you, Twain.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
56. romerozombie: Twain’s dead. He’s hasn’t been fucking anyone for a very long time.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
57. segue: NEWSFLASH! This just in…
October 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
That’s what I thought.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am
ha, this is great! Twain was quite the character…thanks for this!
October 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I like this list , Twain sure had the smarts!
I agree with someone earlier in the list that complained about the pop up that arrives on entering the site. Its really a PITA! I know you have to get advertising to maintain the site but grrrr.
October 31st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
61. Spinner et al:
I’ve said it before on other lists, and I’ll say it here for the benefit of those who find popups and popunders annoying in the extreme:
Change your browser to Firefox! You will immediately notice no popups or popunders.
Problem solved.
November 1st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Another great Mark Twain quote.
…Which may or may not already be on the site somewhere.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:30 am
numbers 3 and 12 are quite amazing!!!!
February 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am
mark twain freaks me out…i remember one quote from his movie “the adventures of mark twain” and it was “Cauliflower is cabbage with a college education” personally…i dont get it haha
February 13th, 2009 at 7:33 am
hahahahahahaha
Mark Twain is possibly the funniest person alive!!:O
But still the majority of the non-personalized quotes are true!!:D:P
April 5th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
he would be one of the funniest people alive if he wasn’t dead…
May 24th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Hello,
I have a girlfriend Bisola but she told me she don’t double date,cause i hate a girl double dating,
But i don’t trust her, what can i do to know she’s not double dating,
Cause i Luv her so much,
Thanks,
Hope your replies.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
mark twain… the one and only….samuel clemens was his real name…….his pen name “mark twain” was taken from his days as a riverboat captain on the missippi river….
the two words; mark and twain ….”mark” refers to the mark that is made on a long pole by the water where it intersects with the water, and “twain” is old english for two(2)….hence, 2 fathoms, or “it marks two” on sea going ships these “soundings” are taken by seaman (a leadsman) that stands on a platform over the water, throwing a lead line just forward of his post and crying out the depth indicated by the marking on the line…2 fathoms:mark twain