Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
You can't keep a juvenile moral institution alive on two displays of its sash per year.
Interpretation
Moral institutions require consistent support and engagement, not just occasional displays.
Mark Twain's quote highlights the importance of continuous commitment to moral principles and institutions, suggesting that sporadic efforts or displays of support are insufficient for their survival and effectiveness. It underscores the necessity for ongoing engagement and dedication to uphold moral standards in society, rather than relying solely on rare or superficial acts of affirmation.
In practice
During a community seminar on civic engagement, this quote can emphasize the need for ongoing participation in local issues.
Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
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.
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
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.
We will never be cleansed until we confess we are dirty. And we will never be able to wash the feet of those who have hurt us until we allow Jesus, the one we have hurt, to wash ours.
There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself.
Our original nature is...void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy - and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awakening yourself.
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from.
Was there ever a time when the majority was right?
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