A new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old, and frayed out, and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it.
Mark TwainNo sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what a fearful thing it is.
Mark TwainBlasphemy? No, it is not blashphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if he is as little as that, He is beneath it.
Mark TwainIt has been reported that I was seriously ill--it was another man; dying--it was another man; dead--the other man again...As far as I can see, nothing remains to be reported, except that I have become a foreigner. When you hear it, don't you believe it. And don't take the trouble to deny it. Merely just raise the American flag on our house in Hartford and let it talk.
Mark TwainThere is nothing in either savage or civilized history that is more utterly complete, more remorselessly sweeping than the Father of Mercyยดs campaign among the Midianites. The official report deals only in masses, all the virgins, all the men, all the babies. all ยดcreatures that breathe,ยด all houses. all cities. It gives you just one vast picture ...as far as the eye can reach, of charred ruins and storm-swept desolation... Would you expect this same conscienceless God, this moral bankrupt, to become a teacher of morals, of gentleness, of meekness, of righteousness, of purity?
Mark Twain