i love mark twain

i never used to. in high school, i thought "huckleberry finn" was the most boring book i had ever read. and "the adventures of tom sawyer" was 10 times worse.

but twain is also a humorist and a satirist, and i find myself drawn to those writers. his undercurrent of love for the europeans in his "tramp abroad" is also obvious to those who can sense it in his writing, and it always goes hand-in-hand with his fondness for the foibles of americans. any culture you experience has its ridiculousness, and that is fertile ground for the humorous mind. we love the deliciousness of it.

so here are some of my favorite quotes from twain...

"Classic." A book which people praise and don't read.

MARK TWAIN, Following the Equator

To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct.

MARK TWAIN, "How to Tell a Story"

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

MARK TWAIN, Autobiography

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

MARK TWAIN, Innocents Abroad