Cartoon by
Dwig from PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, November 25, 1900, p. 6.
See the related story of Mark Twain and the cab driver, "Mark
Twain Has a Grievance."
I have never known, in the case of any petty thief, of a reform that covered
the whole ground, after he had once gotten habituated to the feel of the coin
in another man's pocket.
- Letter to Seymour Eaton, 8 January 1906
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
- Pudd'nhead Wilson
The church is always trying to get other people to reform; it might not be a
bad idea to reform itself a little, by way of example.
- A Tramp Abroad
Reflection is the beginning of reform. There can be no reform without reflection.
If you don't reflect when you commit a crime then that crime is of no use. It
might just as well have been committed by someone else.
- The Watermelon speech, 1907
That desire which is in us all to better other people's condition by having
them think as we think.
- What is Man
In my early manhood and in middle life I used to vex myself with reforms every
now and then. And I never had occasion to regret these divergencies for, whether
the resulting deprivations were long or short, the rewarding pleasure which
I got out of the vice when I returned to it always paid me for all that it cost.
- Autobiography of Mark Twain
You can straighten a worm, but the crook is in him and only waiting.
- More Maxims of Mark, edited by Merle Johnson
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform
(or pause and reflect).
- Notebook, 1904
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