The proper proportions of a maxim: a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense. – Mark Twain
Baccarat is a game whereby the croupier gathers in money with a flexible sculling oar, then rakes it home. If I could have borrowed his oar I would have stayed. – Mark Twain
It is nobler to be good, and it is nobler to teach others to be good — and less trouble! – Mark Twain
A true quotation cannot be divorced from the character who uttered or scribbled it; it should say as much about the person quoted as about the particular subject referred to, and for this reason an anthology of quotations should be a kind of portrait gallery. – Robert Andrews, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, “Introduction”