Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
5 quotes
"I persuaded him to throw the dirk away and it was as easy as persuading a child to give up some bright fresh new way of killing itself."
"If I had the remaking of man, he wouldn't have any conscience. It is one of the most disagreeable things connected with a person; and although it certainly does a great deal of good, it cannot be said to pay, in the long run; it would be much better to have less good and more comfort."
"How empty is theory in the presence of fact!"
"But that is the way we are made: we don't reason, where we feel; we just feel."
"My kind of loyalty was loyalty 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."