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

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So far as I can see, a procession has value in but two ways -- as a show and as a symbol, its minor function being to delight the eye, its major one to compel thought, exalt the spirit, stir the heart, and inflame the imagination. As a mere show, and meaningless -- like a Mardi-Gras march -- a magnificent procession is worth a long journey to see; as a symbol, the most colorless and unpicturesque procession, if it have a moving history back of it, is worth a thousand of it.
- "Queen Victoria's Jubilee"

England June 1907
Clemens on the way to a garden party at Windsor Castle in London, 22 June 1907


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