Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Living a simple yet competent life away from the limelight is the most fulfilling.
Mark Twain suggests that a life characterized by obscurity and competence is superior to one filled with fame and uncertainty. The essence of this quote lies in the appreciation of pursuing skillfulness and mastery in the shadows, away from societal expectations and pressures, leading to a fulfilling existence free from the burdens of public scrutiny.
Themes
ObscurityCompetenceLifeFulfillmentSimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a motivational speech focusing on the value of skilled craftsmanship over fame.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes →The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead
Similar quotes
The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass available.
Theodor AdornoRead
what cannot be saved when fate takes, patience her injury a mockery makes
William ShakespeareRead
But it was not the room’s disorder which was frightening; it was the fact that when one began searching for the key to this disorder, one realized that it was not to be found in any of the usual places. For this was not a matter of habit or circumstance or temperament; it was a matter of punishment and grief.
James A. BaldwinRead
Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
Let me go: take back thy gift: Why should a man desire in any way To vary from the kindly race of men, Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance Where all should pause, as is most meet for all? ...Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears, And make me tremble lest a saying learnt, In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true? ‘The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.’ - Tithonus
Alfred Lord TennysonRead
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
Simone WeilRead