Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
Interpretation
Reading good books is essential for gaining knowledge and insight, just as being able to read is crucial.
Mark Twain's quote emphasizes the importance of reading good literature as a means of enriching one's mind. He suggests that even someone who can read, but chooses not to engage with quality books, is no better off than someone who cannot read at all, highlighting the value of actively seeking knowledge and wisdom through reading.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of literacy, you could quote Twain to emphasize the need for quality reading materials.
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.
One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.
I went to Goucher College in Maryland for the best possible reasons - to learn - but then I dropped out at 19 for the best possible reasons - to become a writer.
The child often sees only what he already knows. He projects the whole of his verbal thought into things. He sees mountains as built by men, rivers as dug out with spades, the sun and moon as following us on our walks.
My message was 'Think African. Make schools read African history.'
Who has forbidden women to engage in private and individual studies? Have they not a rational soul as men do?...I have this inclination to study and if it is evil I am not the one who formed me thus - I was born with it and with it I shall die.
If you pay a child a dollar to read a book, as some schools have tried, you not only create an expectation that reading makes you money, you also run the risk of depriving the child for ever of the value of it. Markets are not innocent.
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