Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The longing of my heart is a fairy portrait of myself: I want to be pretty; I want to eliminate facts and fill up the gap with charms.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a desire for beauty and charm over harsh realities.
Mark Twain reflects on the deep yearning for a more appealing version of oneself, suggesting that people often wish to escape the unsightly truths of life by transforming their perception and presenting a more enchanting self. This quote captures the innate human desire to seek beauty and allure, even if it means avoiding or altering the stark realities of existence.
In practice
During a speech about self-acceptance, one might quote Twain to illustrate the conflict between inner desire and external reality.
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.
He who does not expect will not find out the unexpected, for it is trackless and unexplored
The moment that we realize our attention has wandered is the magic moment of the practice, because that's the moment we have the chance to be really different. Instead of judging ourselves, and berating ourselves, and condemning ourselves, we can be gentle with ourselves.
The power to think as you wish to think is the only power over which you have absolute control.
Your prayers are your light; _x000D_ _x000D_ Your devotion is your strength;_x000D_ _x000D_ Sleep is the enemy of both. _x000D_ _x000D_ Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you._x000D_ _x000D_ If you ignore it, if you waste it,_x000D_ _x000D_ You will only turn to dust.
I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they in turn were my life lessons.
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may livethrough its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.
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