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Mark Twain’s Letters & Speeches (Annotated Edition)

Book by Mark Twain · 2 quotes · Ifs, People, Almighty

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Mark Twain’s Letters & Speeches (Annotated Edition) Quotes

“The kernel, the soul — let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances — is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing.”

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Book:Mark Twain’s Letters & Speeches (Annotated Edition)
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“The proverb says, "Born lucky, always lucky," and I am very superstitious. As a small boy I was notoriously lucky. It was usual for one or two of our lads (per annum) to get drowned in the Mississippi or in Bear Creek, but I was pulled out in a 2/3 drowned condition 9 times before I learned to swim, and was considered to be a cat in disguise.”

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Book:Mark Twain’s Letters & Speeches (Annotated Edition)
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