Reputation is a hall-mark: it can remove doubt from pure silver, and it can also make the plated article pass for pure.
Mark TwainThe statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is being attacked, and every man will be glad of these conscience-soothing falsities
Mark TwainIf we only had some God in the country's laws, instead of being in such a sweat to get him into the Constitution, it would be better all around.
Mark TwainMissionarying was a better thing in those days than it is in ours. All you had to do was to cure the head savageยดs sick daughter by a miracle- a miracle like the miracle of Lourdes in our day, for instance- and immediately that head savage was your convert, and filled to the eyes with a new convertยดs enthusiasm. You could sit down and make yourself easy now. He would take the ax and convert the rest of the nation himself.
Mark Twain