 Portrait by cartoonist Mark Fenderson |
Was it my conspicuousness that distressed
me? Not at all. It was merely that I was not beautifully conspicuous but
uglily conspicuous -- it makes all the difference in the world. If I had
been clothed from helmet to spurs in plate armor of virgin gold and shining
like the sun, I should have been entirely at ease, utterly happy, perfectly
satisfied with myself; to be so thunderingly conspicuous, but at the same
time so beautifully conspicuous, would have caused me not a pang -- on the
contrary it would have filled me with joy, pride, vanity, exaltation. When
I appear clothed in white, a startling accent in the midst of a sombre multitude
in mid-winter, the most conspicuous object there, I am not ashamed, not
ill at ease, but serene and content, because my conspicuousness is not of
an offensive sort; it is not an insult, and cannot affront any eye, nor
affront anybody's sense of propriety. - Autobiographical dictation, 30 July 1907, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3 (University of California Press, 2015) |
|
|
Quotations | Newspaper Articles | Special Features | Links | Search