POVERTY

Honest poverty is a gem that even a King might be proud to call his own, but I wish to sell out. I have sported that kind of jewelry long enough.
- Letter to San Francisco Alta California, written May 26, 1867; published July 21, 1867

It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich--these are wholesome; but to begin it poor and prospectively rich! The man who has not experienced it cannot imagine the curse of it.
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

Whereas principle is a great and noble protection against showy and degrading vanities and vices, poverty is worth six of it.
- "The $30,000 Bequest"

Artist's illustration of
Sam Clemens and "Cal" Higbie in their Esmeralda cabin.
From The Boys' Life of Mark Twain
by Albert B. Paine, 1916.
Color tint by Kent Rasmussen © 2004.