QuoteProject
We were good boys, good Presbyterian boys, and loyal and all that; anyway, we were good Presbyterian boys when the weather was doubtful; when it was fair, we did wander a little from the fold.
Mark Twain
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the duality of human nature, suggesting that true loyalty is tested during difficult times.

Mark Twain's quote humorously highlights the tendency of people to adhere to their principles and moral values only when it is convenient or easy, indicating that during challenging circumstances, one's character is truly tested. It suggests that while individuals may identify with their 'good' traits, they may stray from their values when faced with temptation or hardship, inviting reflection on the authenticity of one's loyalty and beliefs.

Themes

LoyaltyValuesHuman NaturePrinciplesTemptation

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about morality in difficult times.

More from Mark Twain

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead

Similar quotes

I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
Equality lies only in human moral dignity. ... Let there be brothers first, then there will be brotherhood, and only then will there be a fair sharing of goods among brothers.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
Thomas JeffersonRead
In war, the truth must be guarded by a body guard of lies.
Winston ChurchillRead
What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the beating heart?
Alan PatonRead
Commanded by God dozens of times in the Hebrew Bible to remember their past, Jews historically obeyed not by recording events but by ritually re-enacting them: by understanding the present through the lens of the past.
Dara HornRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.