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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 7.<br />

It is by the goodness <strong>of</strong> God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious<br />

things: freedom <strong>of</strong> speech, freedom <strong>of</strong> conscience, and the prudence never to practise either <strong>of</strong><br />

them.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 20<br />

‘Classic.’ A book which people praise and don’t read.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 25; in ‘Speeches’ (1910) p. 194 Twain <strong>of</strong>fers Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Caleb<br />

Winchester’s definition <strong>of</strong> a classic as ‘something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to<br />

read’.<br />

Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 27<br />

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest <strong>of</strong> us could not succeed.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 28<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 36<br />

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 39<br />

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to<br />

slander you and the other to get the news to you.<br />

‘Following the Equator’ (1897) ch. 45<br />

I must have a prodigious quantity <strong>of</strong> mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make<br />

it up.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 7<br />

<strong>The</strong>y spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they<br />

pronounce.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 19<br />

I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast—for luncheon—for dinner—for tea—for supper—<br />

for between meals.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 27.<br />

Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made<br />

Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 27<br />

That joke was lost on the foreigner—guides cannot master the subtleties <strong>of</strong> the American joke.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 27<br />

If you’ve got a nice fresh corpse, fetch him out!<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Innocents Abroad’ (1869) ch. 27<br />

What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.<br />

‘Notebooks’ (1935) p. 67<br />

Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.

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