MYSTERY

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained.
- Notebook, 1898

Some things you can't find out; but you will never know you can't by guessing and supposing; no, you have to be patient and go on experimenting until you find out that you can't find out. And it is delightful to have it that way, it makes the world so interesting. If there wasn't anything to find out, it would be dull. Even trying to find out and not finding out is just as interesting as trying to find out and finding out, and I don't know but more so.
- Eve's Diary

Cover of 1916 edition of Twain's
Mysterious Stranger,
cover art by N.C. Wyeth
courtesy of Kent Rasmussen.
The text of the book was bowdlerized by Twain's editors after his death.