Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
He was a solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously describes a person as overly serious and stiff, comparing him to an iceberg.
Mark Twain uses vivid imagery to convey the character of a person who is excessively solemn and moralizing, likening him to an iceberg—cold and unyielding. The comparison suggests that this individual lacks warmth and humor, embodying a rigid, perhaps self-righteous attitude that makes him seem out of place and waiting for something that signifies a higher status, as implied by the reference to a vacancy in the Trinity.
Themes
SolemnHumorIcebergSeriousnessMorality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of humor in leadership.
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.
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To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
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Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
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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.
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