Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens (1835–1910), was an American writer and humourist, author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He took his pen name from Mississippi river slang, having worked as a steamboat pilot. Alongside the novels he wrote travel books and sharp satire on the politics and society of his day.
About this theme: Wisdom
In the Western tradition wisdom is almost always defined by what it is not. Socrates is famous for claiming to know that he knew nothing; that was not modesty but method. Knowledge is a set of facts, wisdom is knowing what to do with them — and, more often, knowing when there are not enough of them.
More by Mark Twain
- When in doubt, tell the truth.
- Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.
- Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
- The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
- Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
More on Wisdom
- Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.— Lao Tzu
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.— Arthur Schopenhauer
- He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.— Lao Tzu
- Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.— Baruch Spinoza