Mark Twain

I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.

Mark Twain, "Is Shakespeare Dead?"

He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it - namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.

Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", Chapter 2

Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

Mark Twain, "The Lowest Animal"

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Mark Twain, (attributed)

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.

Mark Twain, A Connecticult Yankee in King Arthur's Court

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.

Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, vol. 2, 1879

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.

Mark Twain, Advice to Youth

A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.