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.
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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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