Some Interesting Thoughts From Mark Twain

Cicatrix

I'm working on a lesson plan that I have to teach this week, and came across these thought provoking quotes from Mark Twain at Hannibal.net ( a great site for anyone who is a Twainophile).

"A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows."

"Concentration of power in a political machine is bad: and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could do better in split-up scattered conditions."

Edited by - Cicatrix on 20 November 2002 20:5:29

Joyzabel

LOL! I love it, Cicatrix.

I'm an old fan of Twain. I used to live up river from Hannibal

j2bf

Shakita

Hi Cicatrix:

Another great Mark Twain quote:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

Mrs. Shakita

Mac

Great quotes!

mac, of the celebrated jumping frog class

larc

I like Mark Twain myself. I like his humorous quotes, such as, "Clothes make the man, after all, how many naked people have any influence in society." In the front of one of his books he wrote, "For those of you who like this kind of a book, this is a book that you will like." Regarding the German language, he wrote, "I would rather decline a good drink than decline a German sentence."

rem

I love Twain!

Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes, and wishes he was certain.
Between believing a thing and thinking you know is only a small step and quickly taken.

http://www.twainquotes.com/index.html

rem

Makena1

Twain is definitely one of my favorites. I have used that twainquote website many times, and have a couple books with his wit and humor. I picked my tagline from one of his sayings. Thought it was really appropriate to what we have observed in the borg and other "organized religions"

All best,

Mak

fellow twainophile ; )

Edited by - Makena1 on 20 November 2002 21:39:5

Kenneson

Good old Mark Twain!

Years ago I worked at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge. This Gothic Revival castle, built in 1849 was reported to be the "ugliest" building on the Mississippi River by none other than Mark Twain. Needless to say, he is not the most popular guy in the sentiments of Baton Rougeans.

Maybe he was describing the exterior looks of the building. But I can't believe he would have said that had he gone inside. The circular staircase is majestic and the numerous stain glass windows are beautiful.

Cicatrix

I'm happy that y'all enjoyed the quotes. I have my twainquote site bookmarked now, so everyone's in trouble:)

I read "The Story of the Good Little Boy" out of my 1957 Twain text to my kids tonight to get the reaction to Twain of the teen set (woo-hoo! Say that fast five times. I think I broke every literary rule in the book on that on). They asked if Twain was still around! His stories and quotes seemed to appeal to them (one about fish stories put my 16 year-old in stitches).

Then my sage nine year old said "Mom, you only like him because he's wierd." Well, that's almost how the biography in the preface described him:) Kids just seem to get Twain pretty easily. I hope my supervising teacher lets me use the story I chose ("How I Edited An Agricultural Paper"-it's for a college prep comp course).

Joy-Cool! I've always wanted to visit, but have never managed to get to Missouri yet. Some relatives live down that way now, so maybe next summer(yes, I know how hot the summers are).

Shakita-How true! I just met one of the "great ones" this week. A math tutor told me that I was born with natural math ability because I'm left-handed. It's a line (I'm far from math literate-or whatever they call it), but I gobbled it up hook and all. I'm a firm believer in positive thinking:) He's this really Nutty Professor kind of guy. He and another tutor are on a mission to get me to minor in math ( I'm a secodary education English major). Seeing how much enthusiasm those two have for math really inspires me.I was going to minor in science, but who knows now:)

Larc-I love his humor, too. How he can take mundane events and make you laugh so hard you think your ribs will crack. I used him as therapy after surgery a few years ago.

Kenneson-Maybe he just wanted to set a toad loose in a tea party to see what would happen:) Twain seemed to be the kind of guy who thrives on chaos.

joannadandy

Cicatrix what is your lesson about? I mean is just like a unit about Mark Twain?

Curious, are you going into teaching, a teacher already?

I am doing my pedagogy classes right now, and will start student teaching not this spring, but the one after...

Some Interesting Thoughts From Mark Twain

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