Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a skepticism towards traditional systems of power and authority, suggesting that true loyalty among the people often lies elsewhere.
Mark Twain's quote critiques the legitimacy of monarchies, aristocracies, and organized religions, arguing that these institutions do not genuinely command the loyalty of the majority. Instead, he suggests that people's true allegiance is more aligned with the ideals of freedom and self-determination, highlighting a disconnect between institutional authority and the people's true sentiments.
Themes
LoyaltyPowerAuthoritySkepticismInstitutions
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech discussing the role of government, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for accountability.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes →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
There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.
Samuel JohnsonRead
To choose a hardship for ourselves is our only defense against that hardship. This is what is meant by accepting suffering. Those who, by their very nature, can suffer completely, utterly, have an advantage. That is how we can disarm the power of suffering, make it our own creation, our own choice; submit to it. A justification for suicide.
Cesare PaveseRead
You’re like a lighthouse shining beside the sea of humanity, motionless: all you can see is your own reflection in the water. You’re alone, so you think it’s a vast, magnificent panorama. You haven’t sounded the depths. You simply believe in the beauty of God’s creation. But I have spent all this time in the water, diving deep into the howling ocean of life, deeper than anyone. While you were admiring the surface, I saw the shipwrecks, the drowned bodies, the monsters of the deep
Alfred De MussetRead
Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Strange now to think of you, gone without corsets & eyes, while I walk on the sunny pavement of Greenwich Village. downtown Manhattan, clear winter noon, and I've been up all night, talking, talking, reading the Kaddish aloud, listening to Ray Charles blues shout blind on the phonograph
Allen GinsbergRead
I know how young black men are seen. They're boys - scared little boys, oftentimes. I was one of them. I was completely afraid of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Kehinde WileyRead