Character Quotes by Mark Twain

The Moral Sense teaches us what is right, and how to avoid it-when unpopular.

— Mark Twain

Virtue has never been as respectable as money.

— Mark Twain

It is not best to use our morals weekdays, it gets them out of repair for Sunday.

— Mark Twain

In statesmanship get formalities right, never mind about the moralities.

— Mark Twain

Ethical man: A Christian holding four aces.

— Mark Twain

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

— Mark Twain

What marriage is to morality, a properly conducted licensed liquor traffic is to sobriety.

— Mark Twain

To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not…

— Mark Twain

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless.

— Mark Twain

Morals consist of political morals, commercial morals, ecclesiastical morals, and morals.

— Mark Twain

The most permanent lessons in morals are those which come, not of book teaching, but of experience.

— Mark Twain

We get our morals from books. I didn't get mine from books, but I know that morals do come from books- theoretically…

— Mark Twain

Praise is well, compliment is well, but affection-that is the last and most precious reward that any man can win, whether by…

— Mark Twain

The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to…

— Mark Twain

Surely the test of a novel's characters is that you feel a strong interest in them and their affairs the good to…

— Mark Twain

“The Church still prizes the Moral Sense as man's noblest asset today, although the Church knows God had a distinctly poor opinion…

— Mark Twain

There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad…

— Mark Twain

The blunting effects of slavery upon the slaveholder's moral perceptions are known and conceded the world over; and a priveleged class, an…

— Mark Twain

“In your country and mine we should have the privilege of making fun of this kind of morality, but it would be…

— Mark Twain

Morals are not the important thing-nor enlightenment-nor civilization. A man can do absolutely well without them, but he can't do without something…

— Mark Twain

It's my opinion that every one I know has morals, though I wouldn't like to ask. I know I have. But I'd…

— Mark Twain

As by the fires of experience, so by commission of crime you learn real morals. Commit all crimes, familiarize yourself with all…

— Mark Twain

As I have said before, I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is my feeling yet. Before the spelling-book…

— Mark Twain

I will now claim - until dispossesed - that I was the first person in the world to apply the typewriter to…

— Mark Twain

“He has one code of morals for himself, and quite another for his children. He requires his children to deal justly—and gently—with…

— Mark Twain

there was no crime in unconscious plagiarism; that I committed it everyday, that he committed it everyday, that every man alive on…

— Mark Twain

The moral of it is this: If you are of any account, stay at home and make your way by faithful diligence;…

— Mark Twain

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass,…

— Mark Twain

“A God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every…

— Mark Twain

It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of…

— Mark Twain

Morals are an acquirement - like music, like a foreign language, like piety, poker, paralysis - no man is born with them.

— Mark Twain

When one's character begins to fall under suspicion and disfavor, how swift, then, is the work of disintegration and destruction.

— Mark Twain

It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock-the private and the…

— Mark Twain

The moral sense enables one to perceive morality, and avoid it. The immoral sense enables one to perceive immorality and enjoy it.

— Mark Twain

One must keep one's character. Earn a character first if you can, and if you can't, then assume one.

— Mark Twain

What God lacks is convictions- stability of character. He ought to be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something- not try to…

— Mark Twain

None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try.

— Mark Twain

A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.

— Mark Twain

“There is a Moral sense, and there is an Immoral Sense. History shows us that the Moral Sense enables us to perceive…

— Mark Twain

The low level which commercial morality has reached in America is deplorable. We have humble God fearing Christian men among us who…

— Mark Twain