banner

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

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SUICIDE

You see, the lightning refuses to strike me--that is where the defect is. We have to do our own striking, as Barney Bernato did. But nobody ever gets the courage till he goes crazy.
- Letter to Henry Rogers, 6/16/1897

Suicide is the only sane thing the young or old ever do in this life.
- quoted in Mark Twain: God' s Fool, Hamlin Hill

Unfortunately none of us can see far ahead; prophecy is not for us. Hence the paucity of suicides.
- "Which Was the Dream?"

Ad art

But we are all insane, anyway...The suicides seem to be the only sane people.
- Mark Twain's Notebook, #40, (Jan. 1897-July 1900)

Of the demonstrably wise there are but two: those who commit suicide, & those who keep their reasoning faculties atrophied with drink.
- Notebook, 1898

I do see that there is an argument against suicide: the grief of the worshipers left behind, the awful famine in their hearts, these are too costly terms for the release.
- Letter to W. D. Howells, 7/13/1889

banner logo

Quotations | Newspaper Articles | Special Features | Links | Search