Mark Twain Quotes about Lying - Page 2

As soon as a man recognizes that he has drifted into age, he gets reminiscent. He wants to talk and talk; and not about the present or the future, but about his old times. For there is where the pathos of his life lies

As soon as a man recognizes that he has drifted into age, he gets reminiscent. He wants to talk and talk; and not about the present or the future, but about his old times. For there is where the pathos of his life lies - and the charm of it. The pathos of it is there because it was opulent with treasures that are gone, and the charm of it is in casting them up from the musty ledgers and remembering how rich and gracious they were.

Mark Twain

Lying, Men, Age

Mark Twain (2010). “Who Is Mark Twain?”, p.7, Harper Collins

It{California} is the land where the fabled Aladdin's Lamp lies buried-and she {San Francisco} is the new Aladdin who shall seize it from its obscurity and summon the genie and command him to crown her with power and greatness and bring to her feet the hoarded treasures of the earth.

Mark Twain

Lying, Greatness, Land

Mark Twain, Arthur Grove Day (1975). “Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii”, p.274, University of Hawaii Press

The Bible is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies. This Bible is built mainly out of fragments of older Bibles that had their day and crumbled to ruin. So it noticeably lacks in originality, necessarily. Its three or four most imposing and impressive events all happened in earlier Bibles; there are only two new things in it: hell, for one, and that singular heaven I have told you about.

Mark Twain

Clever, Lying, Blood

George Washington, as a boy, was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie.

Mark Twain

Lying, Boys, Accomplishment

Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.25, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

Never tell a lie-except for practice.

Mark Twain

Lying, Practice

Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.237, Courier Corporation

Therein lies the defect of revenge: it's all in the anticipation; the thing itself is a pain, not a pleasure; at least the pain is the biggest end of it.

Mark Twain

Pain, Revenge, Lying

Mark Twain (2015). “Bite-Size Twain: Wit and Wisdom from the Literary Legend”, p.57, St. Martin's Press

But we love the Old Travelers. We love to hear them prate and drivel and lie.

Mark Twain

Lying, Traveler, Drivel

Mark Twain (2008). “The Innocents Abroad”, p.111, Velvet Element Books

A mighty porterhouse steak an inch and a half thick, hot and sputtering from the griddle; dusted with fragrant pepper; enriched with little melting bits of butter of the most impeachable freshness and genuineness; the precious juices of the meat trickling out and joining the gravy, archipelagoed with mushrooms; a township or two of tender, yellowish fat gracing an out-lying district of this ample county of beefsteak; the long white bone which divides the sirloin from the tenderloin still in its place.

Mark Twain

Lying, Mushrooms, Two

We must put up with our clothes as they are - they have their reason for existing. They are on us to expose us - to advertise what we wear them to conceal. They are a sign; a sign of insincerity; a sign of suppressed vanity; a pretense that we desire gorgeous colors and the graces of harmony and form; and we put them on to propagate that lie and back it up.

Mark Twain

Lying, Vanity, Color

Mark Twain (2015). “Bite-Size Twain: Wit and Wisdom from the Literary Legend”, p.17, St. Martin's Press

The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is being attacked, and every man will be glad of these conscience-soothing falsities

Mark Twain

War, Lying, Men

A railroad is like a lie you have to keep building it to make it stand.

Mark Twain

Lying, Cowboy, Railroads

Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.394, Courier Corporation

The most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a person only tells them with all his might.

Mark Twain

Lying, Might, Skepticism

Mark Twain, Bob Blaisdell (2013). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain”, p.62, Courier Corporation

It is often the case that a man who can't tell a lie thinks he is the best judge of one.

Mark Twain

Lying, Men, Thinking

Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.237, Courier Corporation

A wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for naught.

Mark Twain

Wise, Lying, Men

Mark Twain, Susan K. Harris (1994). “Historical Romances: The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc”, p.115, Library of America

It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.

Mark Twain

Lying, Inspiration, Doe

Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.36, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

A jay hasnt got any more principle than a Congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise.

Mark Twain

Lying, Promise, Principles

Mark Twain (2016). “A Tramp Abroad”, p.24, Xist Publishing

To avoid lying, do nothing that needs covering.

Mark Twain

Lying, Covering, Needs

You can't pray a lie -- I found that out.

Mark Twain

Lying, Praying, Found

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ch. 31 (1884)

An injurious truth has no merit over an injurious lie. Neither should ever be uttered. The man who speaks an injurious truth, lest his soul be not saved if he do otherwise, should reflect that that sort of a soul is not strictly worth saving.

Mark Twain

Truth, Lying, Men

Mark Twain, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Mark Twain: All 13 Novels, Short Stories, Poetry and Essays”, p.2132, GENERAL PRESS

The silent colossal National Lie that is the support and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and unfairnesses that afflict the peoples — that is the one to throw bricks and sermons at.

Mark Twain

Lying, Support, Bricks

Mark Twain (2000). “The Jumping Frog: And 18 Other Stories”, p.101, Book Tree

The true charm of pedestrians does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking.

Mark Twain

Lying, Talking, Hiking

I am a democrat only on principle, not by instinct, nobody is that. Doubtless some people say they are, but this world is grievously given to lying.

Mark Twain

Lying, People, Democracy

1898 Notebook, ch.31, Feb ^ Mar.

In this age of inventive wonders all men have come to believe that in some genius' brain sleeps the solution of the grand problem of aerial navigation-and along with that belief is the hope that that genius will reveal his miracle before they die, and likewise a dread that he will poke off somewhere and die himself before he finds out that he has such a wonder lying dormant in his brain. We all know the air can be navigated-therefore, hurry up your sails and bladders-satisfy us-let us have peace.

Mark Twain

Lying, Believe, Sleep

Mark Twain, John C. Gerber, Terry Firkins (1983). “Tom Sawyer Abroad ; Tom Sawyer Detective”, p.180, Univ of California Press