14 Mark Twain Quotes That (If Applied) Will Change the Way You See the World Forever

Why do we love Mark Twain so much? After all, he's been dead for over 110 years now. Although, saying that, Jesus has been dead far longer and he's still loved so I guess that kind of thinking doesn't stand up so well. 

Maybe it's his humour then? Or his wit? His wisdom? 

Whatever it might be, his words have transcended time and they bring as much joy today as they did when he wrote them. 

During his lifetime, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (much) better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was once lauded the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner even going as far as calling him "the father of American literature".

As much as he was revered and celebrated through life, he also went through his fair share of challenges. Perhaps the hardest came when he lost his fortune and became bankrupt after a few bad investments. 

However, forever the optimist, he gained it all back, and following his birth shortly after Halley's Comet arrived, he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well, which he did, dying the day after the comet made its closest approach to Earth.

So, here are 14 quotes by the man himself that (if applied) will change the way you live forever. 

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

Would the world look like (and feel like) if you never had to hide anything ever again? Or suspected that someone else was hiding something from you? 

I know as one gets old, memory fades. So, maybe that's why old people are so honest and upfront. Either that or they're just tired of giving a shit. Either way, living in truth is a beautiful life goal we can all keep refining. 

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect)."

How relevant is this one today? 

But why? Of course, it doesn't apply to every situation and it doesn't mean that the majority is wrong. Everyone knows that gravity exists, for instance, so no one's out to prove another theory just because the majority agrees upon that. 

But to borrow another quote, this time from Epictetus - "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." 

The majority can become complacent, egotistical even. It's only in the unknown can we really learn and grow. So, pausing to reflect, take stock, and see where our compass is pointing is always a good idea. 

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Perhaps this one is even more relevant than the last. 

Mark Twain was a few decades behind the internet but still, fake news travelled much faster than real news. Today, with the help of social media and news outlets, it travels 10x faster. 

So, be discerning with what you take as truth. Be discerning with who you listen to, learn from, and share energy with. And be patient. Truth can be hard to find sometimes but once it is, there's no going back, especially when it's personal truth. 

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Knowledge and wisdom are two separate things. School provides knowledge, life turns it into wisdom. 

We seem to be past the time when gaining knowledge is the desired path. Now, maybe so than ever before, we are longing for experience. Experience is knowledge in action. Repeated action creates neural pathways in the brain that solidify knowledge into wisdom. This then imprints the cells within the body and the wisdom carried forward thereafter is one of personal truth. There's no turning back from personal truth and once you know how to get there, there's really nothing stopping you from repeating it over and over again. 

This is what I think Mark Twain meant by this. 

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."

If everything was to end right now - would you have any regrets? 

"I don't regret the things I've done, I regret the things I didn't do when I had the chance" - Abhishek 

That doesn't mean live every last second as if it were your last. That would be exhausting. But rather dare to dream big, go after your visions, love deeply, fully, passionately. Laugh. Lose. Don't hold back. 

Perhaps Hunter S. Thompson said it best when he said - "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"

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

What more is there to say? 

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

The Earth has been doing its thing for 4.5 billion years and the universe even longer than that and the multiverse even longer than that. 

We are mere dots, tiny speckles of light among the vastness of existence. So, don't take life too seriously, it'll all be gone in the blink of an eye. 

The invitation is not to show how inventive or imaginative or brave you are, but rather to see how much more you can notice while you're still here. 

"Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe." 

How easy would life be if worrying wasn't a thing? 

Or as Michael Jordan used to say, "Why would I think about missing a shot before I've even taken it?" 

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

Or as Jim Rohn liked to say - "We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with." 

So, who are your five people? How do they make you feel? 

They don't even have to be in your life, they can be online teachers, mentors, spirit guides. But whoever it is that you commune with, choose carefully. Your thoughts, emotions, and views of the world depend on it. 

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

Another way of saying this is to take full responsibility for all of it - the joy, the sadness, the pain, suffering, fear, love, and bliss. In taking full responsibility for all of it, no one else can make you sad just like no one else can make you happy. Both are cultivated within. 

So, all it comes down to in the end is which one you want to choose? 

"Don't wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it." 

It's tempting, it's oh so tempting, but in the end, only the pigs have fun so it's not worth the energy. 

"Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do."

Again, have no regrets. Try not to long for things out of your reach or means either. Try instead to appreciate everything that you have and be with them fully. In the end, that's all that matters. 

"Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection." 

We live in a world where we show the best bits of our lives to each other on a highlight reel on social media. We don't often see the small micro-moments that make them possible, or all the bumps, bruises, and scars we've picked up along the way. 

This can cause us to compare ourselves to others and even make us feel less than. Feeling less than can stop us from going after our dreams. A simple antidote to this is committing yourself to improve by just 1% every day. 

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one." - Mark Twain

If you commit to improving yourself by just 1% every day, in 100 days you'll be 100% better off than where you are right now. And in one year, you'll be 365% better off. That's huge!

So, compound-interest the sh*t out of yourself and take tiny steps forward. Soon enough you won't believe how far you've come.

Closing thoughts 

To close, I'll return back to where it all began. To a quote that is perhaps the most pertinent of all:

"Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile."