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Directory of Mark Twain's maxims, quotations, and various opinions:

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SUCCESS

Behold the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket"--which is but a manner of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention;" but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs in the one basket and--WATCH THAT BASKET."
- "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"
AI image created by R. Kent Rasmussen

Twain watching from window

It is strange the way the ignorant and inexperienced so often and so undeservedly succeed when the informed and the experienced fail.
- Auobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2 (2013)

Human nature is the same everywhere; it deifies success, it has nothing but scorn for defeat.
- Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc


All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure.
- Notebook, 1887

I'm not the declining sort. I would take charge of the constellations if I were asked to do it. All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure.
- Letter to Cornelia "Detie" Welch Foote of Cincinnati, written on 2 December 1887. Facsimile reprinted in When Huck Finn Went Highbrow, Casseres

Twain at the window
Photos from the Dave Thomson collection


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