--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The mind that becomes soiled in youth can…" description: "\"The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterne..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b27/mark-twain-22_bitterness_the-mind-that-becomes-soiled-in-youth-ca_2327549.png" --- # The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be… ![“The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15…” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b27/mark-twain-22_bitterness_the-mind-that-becomes-soiled-in-youth-ca_2327549.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b27/mark-twain-22_bitterness_the-mind-that-becomes-soiled-in-youth-ca_2327549.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b27/mark-twain-22_bitterness_the-mind-that-becomes-soiled-in-youth-ca_2327549.png) > “The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Early trauma can leave lasting moral stains that are hard to erase, especially when authority forces harmful experiences. **In simple terms:** Youthful harm can scar a person forever. Key Takeaway Recognize and heal past wounds. Themes trauma authority morality Mood sorrowful reflective Type personal cautionary When to use this quote - counseling - support groups - personal reflection - forgiveness Key Concepts psychological imprint betrayal resilience Questions to Reflect On - How have past abuses shaped your values? - Can forgiveness restore inner peace? A Different Perspective Healing may be limited without confronting the source. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bitterness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bitterness/) [Bitterness Unfaithful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bitterness-unfaithful-5587100/) [Cherish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cherish/) [Draws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/draws/) [Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graves/) [Guardian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guardian/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mind Soiled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind-soiled-5587099/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Sides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sides/) [Soiled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soiled-925456/) [Soiled Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soiled-youth-5587098/) [Sweet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sweet/) [This day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/this-day/) [Unexpurgated Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unexpurgated-bible-4823517/) [Unfaithful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unfaithful/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) [Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young/) [Young life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-life/) [Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth/) ## Related quotes > [When a library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/when-a-library-expels-a-book-of-mine-and-leaves-an-unexpurgated-bible/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A soiled baby with a neglected nose cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-soiled-baby-with-a-neglected-nose-cannot-be-conscientiously/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“First the fact that the only items on open display seem to be tampons, breast pumps, and douches, making one feel as a female…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belle-de-jour/first-the-fact-that-the-only-items-on-open-display-seem-to-be-tampons/) [Belle de Jour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/belle-de-jour/) > [That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again and ever again, this soiled world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/that-the-hands-of-the-sisters-death-and-night-incessantly-softly-wash/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [There are passages of the Bible that are soiled forever by the touches of the hands of ministers who delight in the cheap jokes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillips-brooks/there-are-passages-of-the-bible-that-are-soiled-forever-by-the/) [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) > [“Absence of that knowledge has rendered us a nation of wary label-readers, oddly uneasy in our obligate relationship with the things we eat ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/absence-of-that-knowledge-has-rendered-us-a-nation-of-wary-label/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [“Midway between the too soiled ground and the too-sublime vaults, at the level of the air, entering the skin of the role, poetry plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/midway-between-the-too-soiled-ground-and-the-too-sublime-vaults-at/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [My death, taking the light from my eyes, gives back to the day the purity which they soiled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-racine/my-death-taking-the-light-from-my-eyes-gives-back-to-the-day-the/) [Jean Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-racine/) > [It was that white cloak that soiled me, not the other way around.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-was-that-white-cloak-that-soiled-me-not-the-other-way-around/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“First, a bath. I'm feeling soiled. Too much contact with cold reality, I think.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-greenwood/first-a-bath-i-m-feeling-soiled-too-much-contact-with-cold-reality-i/) [Kerry Greenwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-greenwood/) > [Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-scott/learn-as-much-as-you-can-while-you-are-young-since-life-becomes-too/) [Dana Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-scott/) > [“These things I'd learned when I was young: Life is short and men are cruel, and ponies are born to suffer. I decided that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-lawrence/these-things-i-d-learned-when-i-was-young-life-is-short-and-men-are/) [Iain Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-lawrence/) > [“And I am overwhelmed now by the awfulness of over-simplification. For now I realize that not only have I been guilty of it through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/and-i-am-overwhelmed-now-by-the-awfulness-of-over-simplification-for/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [“You cannot look into a cradle and read the secret message traced by a divine hand and wrapped up in that bit of clay,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orison-swett-marden/you-cannot-look-into-a-cradle-and-read-the-secret-message-traced-by-a/) [Orison Swett Marden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orison-swett-marden/) > [Your only Young Once , After that you have to Think of another Excuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-jones/your-only-young-once-after-that-you-have-to-think-of-another-excuse/) [Victoria Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-jones/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Bitterness quotes > [You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-should-be-angry-you-must-not-be-bitter-bitterness-is-like-cancer/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [If Japanese tea 'stands,' it acquires a coarse bitterness and an unwholesome astringency. Milk and sugar are not used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/if-japanese-tea-stands-it-acquires-a-coarse-bitterness-and-an/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [Stronger than alcohol, vaster than poetry, Ferment the freckled red bitterness of love!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-rimbaud/stronger-than-alcohol-vaster-than-poetry-ferment-the-freckled-red/) [Arthur Rimbaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-rimbaud/) > [“What?" I ask. I try not to get snappy with her. She hasn't really done anything wrong. Falling in love with Turner isn't a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-m-stunich/what-i-ask-i-try-not-to-get-snappy-with-her-she-hasn-t-really-done/) [C.M. Stunich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-m-stunich/) > [“The fairest things have fleetest end, Their scent survives their close: But the rose’s scent is bitterness To him that loved the rose. —Francis…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-rule/the-fairest-things-have-fleetest-end-their-scent-survives-their-close/) [Ann Rule](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-rule/) > [Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. With this creed, revenge never worries my heart, degradation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/life-appears-to-me-too-short-to-be-spent-in-nursing-animosity-or/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“No," I say. "I didn't know that," and as I say it I feel flooded with bitterness at all the things Ingrid kept secret…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-lacour/no-i-say-i-didn-t-know-that-and-as-i-say-it-i-feel-flooded-with/) [Nina LaCour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-lacour/) > [Forgiving someone who've done you wrong or didn't treat you right could mean that you are allowing yourself to end up away from bitterness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/april-t-pascua/forgiving-someone-who-ve-done-you-wrong-or-didn-t-treat-you-right/) [April T Pascua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/april-t-pascua/) > [You cannot be inspired if you are surrounded with negativity, open the door and step into the inspirational garden of nature. Do not let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemmy-nola/you-cannot-be-inspired-if-you-are-surrounded-with-negativity-open-the/) [Kemmy Nola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemmy-nola/) > [It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. Carry it by the comfortable handles of gratitude for what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lena-horne/it-s-not-the-load-that-breaks-you-down-it-s-the-way-you-carry-it/) [Lena Horne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lena-horne/) > [Not forgiving prolongs hurt and anger and leads to smoldering resentment, which will make us miserable until it kills us. Resentment destroys the perception…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-walters/not-forgiving-prolongs-hurt-and-anger-and-leads-to-smoldering/) [Richard Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-walters/) > [Let us not give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/let-us-not-give-in-to-pessimism-to-that-bitterness-that-the-devil/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [“Sometimes it is good to remind ourselves how bitterness tastes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rin-chupeco/sometimes-it-is-good-to-remind-ourselves-how-bitterness-tastes/) [Rin Chupeco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rin-chupeco/) > [What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohinton-mistry/what-folly-made-young-people-even-those-in-middle-age-think-they-were/) [Rohinton Mistry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohinton-mistry/) > [Be sure there is something waiting for you after much patience, to astonish you to a degree, that you forget the bitterness of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/be-sure-there-is-something-waiting-for-you-after-much-patience-to/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) [Browse all 1,210 Bitterness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bitterness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. 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