45 Powerful Mark Twain Quotes About Strength That Will Inspire You to Never Give Up

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.

Except a creature be part coward, it is not a compliment to say he is brave; it is merely a loose misapplication of the word.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

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

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless.

It is easy to find fault, if one has that disposition.

The exercise of an extraordinary gift is the supremest pleasure in life.

Next to possessing genius one’s self is the power of appreciating it in others.

We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.

A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.

When we speak of men who didn’t know what fear was, we ought always to add the flea and put him at the head of the procession.

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

In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.

It’s easy to endure adversity if it happens to someone else.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.

An uneasy conscience is a hair in the mouth.

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.

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.

All say, how hard it is that we have to die, a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it, and stop there.

Good judgment is the result of experience, and experience the result of bad judgment.

The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.

Nothing that grieves us can be called little, by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.

To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.

It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.

Thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

The miracle or the power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application and perseverance under the promptings of a brave, determined spirit.

We are strange beings, we seem to go free, but we go in chains, chains of training, custom, convention, association, environment, and against these bonds the strongest of us struggle in vain.

I am pushing sixty. That is enough exercise for me.

It is a good idea to obey all the rules when you’re young just so you’ll have the strength to break them when you’re old.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

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

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

Good judgment is the result of experience, and experience the result of bad judgment.

It is a good idea to obey all the rules when you’re young just so you’ll have the strength to break them when you’re old.