Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Satan hasn't a single salaried helper; the Opposition employs a million.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea that negative forces often have more support and resources than positive ones.
Mark Twain's quote reflects on the nature of opposition and negativity in the world, suggesting that while good may not require formal organization and support, evil and dissent seem to have an abundance of followers and resources at their disposal. It implies a commentary on societal dynamics where the detrimental aspects of human nature are often more prevalent and actively engaged than benign forces.
In practice
In a discussion about the challenges faced by activists, this quote can be used to emphasize the prevalence of negative influence.
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.
Today the predatory state, or the predatory group of states, with power of total destruction, is no more to be tolerated than the predatory individual.
The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to the average primate, who instead invents emotional games (soap opera and grand opera dramatics).
...most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution.
The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.
Meditation upon death does not teach one how to die; it does not make the departure more easy, but ease is not what I seek. Beloved boy, so willful and brooding, your sacrifice will have enriched not my life but my death. ... Centuries as yet unborn within the dark womb of time would pass by thousands over that tomb without restoring life to him, but likewise without adding to his death, and without changing the fact that he had been.
This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.
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