QuotesMark Twain quotes
Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 to 1910), the American author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain may be the most misquoted writer in English, so this page keeps to lines found in his published books and notes.
Quotations
When in doubt, tell the truth.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)Be good and you will be lonesome.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)"Classic." A book which people praise and don't read.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)The report of my death was an exaggeration.
Mark Twain, Note to a journalist, 1897Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain, Note to the Young People's Society, Brooklyn, 1901
Nothing matches. Try a shorter word, or choose All.
Where these lines come from
Twain's best short sayings were not spoken off the cuff. He wrote them as the "calendar" of a character named Pudd'nhead Wilson, and printed one at the head of each chapter of the novel Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and again in his travel book Following the Equator (1897). The lines on truth, on blushing, on classics and on courage all come from those chapter headings.
- "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do..." is from the famous chapter of Tom Sawyer in which Tom, made to whitewash a fence as a punishment, persuades other boys to pay him for the privilege.
- "The report of my death was an exaggeration" is from a note Twain wrote in 1897, when a newspaper had confused him with a cousin who was ill. The popular version, "greatly exaggerated", is a later improvement by other hands.
The most misquoted writer in English
Because Twain was funny and American, funny American sayings drift towards his name. Many well-known "Twain" lines cannot be found in anything he wrote. A safe rule: a real Twain quotation names a book, a speech, a letter or a notebook. This page gives the source for each line, and our page on quotes that were never said explains how to check others.
Using a Twain line
Twain suits the light opening of a speech, a farewell, a prize day or a toast. The line on courage is serious enough for any occasion. "When in doubt, tell the truth" is a fine motto for a class or a team. Give his name and the book. Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, died in 1910, and his published works are in the public domain.
Good to know
- Several lines come from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar", the mock almanac sayings Twain printed at the head of chapters in two of his books.