Mark Twain
(page 6)
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before.
Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.
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.
There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry.