Mark Twain
(page 2)
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.
Of all the creatures that were made, man is the most detestable. Of the entire brood he is the only one - the solitary one - that possesses malice. That is the basest of all instincts, passions, vices - the most hateful. He is the only creature that has pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. Also - in all the list he is the only creature that has a nasty mind.
Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.