Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
It used to take me all vacation to grow a new hide in place of the one they flogged off me during school term.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the struggle of recovery and renewal after facing hardship, particularly in an educational context.
Mark Twain's quote highlights the emotional toll that schooling can take on an individual, suggesting that the experiences of hardship or criticism during school can be so severe that it feels like a part of one's identity is stripped away. The metaphor of growing a new hide implies a process of healing and rebuilding one's self-esteem or resilience, which can take a considerable amount of time, akin to a vacation.
Themes
EducationResilienceGrowthHealingIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech to graduates about overcoming challenges in education.
More from Mark Twain
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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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Similar quotes
(...) being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. (...) this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulties in changing ideas.
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If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle them, and, as it were, fondle them. Let them fall open where they will. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas.
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Education is preparation to live completely.
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He promoted the education of the parish clergy and wrote: He seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear.
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I did not throw out my education lightly, but what I was being taught was of no use in explaining what I saw around me. It was the Great Depression.
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