MARK TWAIN

I don’t know why, but I was thinking about Mark Twain this afternoon.

One thing I appreciate about him is that he had a very difficult life; yet his sense of humor was renown

Here are some quotes and a bit of his story:

 

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

 

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

 

I’ve never let my school interfere with my education.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on Nov. 30, 1835, in the small town of Florida, Missouri. He was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Little did these parents know, their son Samuel would one day be known as Mark Twain. one of – America’s most famous literary icons.

Approximately four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved 35 miles east to the town of Hannibal. A growing port city that lay along the banks of the Mississippi, a frequent stop for steam boats arriving by both day and night from St. Louis and New Orleans.

Samuel’s father was a judge, and he built a two-story frame house at 206 Hill Street in 1844. As a youngster, Samuel was kept indoors because of poor health.
However, by age nine, he seemed to recover from his ailments and joined the rest of the town’s children outside. He then attended a private school in Hannibal.

When Samuel was 12, his father died of pneumonia, and at 13, Samuel left school to become a printer’s apprentice. After two short years, he joined his
brother Orion’s newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant. It was here that young Samuel found he enjoyed writing.

At 17, he left Hannibal behind for a printer’s job in St. Louis. While there, Clemens became a river pilot’s apprentice. He earned his license as pilot himself in 1858. Clemens’ pseudonym, Mark Twain, comes from his days on the river.  It is a term which means two fathoms or 12-feet when the depth of water for a boat is being sounded. “Mark twain” means that is safe to navigate.

Because the river trade was brought to a stand still by the Civil War in 1861, Clemens began working as a reporter for several newspapers all
over the United States. In 1870, Clemens married Olivia Langdon, and they had four children, one of whom died in infancy and two who died in their twenties.
Their surviving child, Clara, lived to be 88, and had one daughter. Clara’s daughter died without having any children, leaving  no living descendants of Samuel Clemens.

Mark Twain passed away on April 21, 1910.
from:
http://www.brainyquotes.com
and
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/about/bio.htm