In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated, and scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it cost nothing to be a patriot.
— Mark Twain
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
— Mark Twain
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
— Mark Twain
My body is my own, at least I have always so regarded it. If I do harm … it is I who suffers, not the state
— Mark Twain
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
— Mark Twain, Notebook, 1887
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
— Mark Twain
My kind of loyalty was to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.
— Mark Twain
There is no distinctly native American criminal class – save Congress.
— Mark Twain
That’s the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don’t care, individuals do.
— Mark Twain
Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak.
— Mark Twain
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
— Mark Twain