Quote

The government is merely a servant―merely a temporary servant it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

Mark Twain

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Mark Twain
Age: 74 †
Born: 1835
Born: November 30
Died: 1910
Died: April 21
Aphorist
Author
Autobiographer
Humorist
Journalist
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Prosaist
Science Fiction Writer
Teacher
Florida
Missouri
Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Samuel L. Clemens
Samuel Clemens
Government
Determine
Originate
Right
Merely
Prerogative
Function
Orders
Politics
Patriot
Wrong
Obey
Political
Temporary
Order
Servant
Cannot
Decide

More quotes by Mark Twain

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When majority is insane, sane must go to asylum.
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There is no urge so great as for one man to edit another man's work.
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Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness.
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The law of work does seem utterly unfair-but there it is, and nothing can change it: the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, too.
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Whenever the human race assembles to a number exceeding four, it cannot stand free speech.
Mark Twain
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I have achieved my seventy years in the usual way: by sticking strictly to a scheme of life which would kill anybody else... I will offer here, as a sound maxim, this: That we can't reach old age by another man's road.
Mark Twain
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Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.
Mark Twain
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We can't always have the beautiful aspect of things. Let us make the most of our sights that are beautiful and let the others go
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Drop this mean and sordid and selfish devotion to the saving of your shabby little souls, and hunt up something to do that's got some dignity to it! Risk your souls! Risk them in good causes then if you lose them, why should you care? Reform!
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Forget and forgive. This is not difficult when properly understood.
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The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
Mark Twain
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The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.
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The cigar-box which the European calls a 'lift' needs but to be compared with our elevators to be appreciated. The lift stops to reflect between floors. That is all right in a hearse, but not in elevators. The American elevator acts like a man's patent purge-it works.
Mark Twain
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A little more kindness, A little less speed, A little more giving, A little less greed, A little more smile, A little less frown, A little less kicking, A man while he's down, A little more We, A little less I, A little more laugh, A little less cry, A little more flowers, On the pathway of life, And fewer on graves, At the end of the stri
Mark Twain
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Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.
Mark Twain
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When your opinions start to coincide with those of the majority, it is time to reconsider your opinions.
Mark Twain
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We can secure other people's approval, if we do right and try hard but our own is worth a hundred of it, and no way has been found out of securing that.
Mark Twain
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The human race is a race of cowards and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.
Mark Twain
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Our best built certainties are but sand-houses and subject to damage from any wind of doubt that blows
Mark Twain
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Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress but I repeat myself.
Mark Twain