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Directory of Mark Twain's maxims, quotations, and various opinions:

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STEALING

You ought never to take anything that don't belong to you--if you cannot carry it off.
- "Advice for Good Little Boys"

It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.
- More Maxims of Mark, Merle Johnson (1927)


AI image created by Barbara Schmidt

All the territorial possessions of all the political establishments in the earth--including America, of course--consist of pilferings from other people's wash. No tribe, howsoever insignificant, and no nation, howsoever mighty occupies a foot of land that was not stolen.
- Following the Equator

AI image created by Barbara Schmidt

Though it is beyond any doubt that many a bad little boy has reaped lucrative income by confiscating the pennies given him for missionary contributions. It is the proudest reflection of my life that I never did that--never did it more than once or twice, anyhow.
- "Mark Twain's Lecture," Hartford Courant, 24 November 1869, p. 2



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