Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Surely the ass who invented the first religion ought to be the first ass damned
Interpretation
What this quote means
Mark Twain critiques the absurdities of religious belief and the origins of religion.
In this quote, Mark Twain highlights the irony and absurdity associated with the creation of religion, suggesting that the inventor of the first religion deserves condemnation for their role in introducing belief systems that can lead to conflict and dogma. Twain often used humor and satirical commentary to provoke thought about serious topics, and here he points to the foolishness he perceives in humanity's tendency to create organized beliefs that may not hold up under scrutiny.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of religion in society, this quote can highlight the critique of dogma.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes βThe 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.
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
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.
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Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over.
At that point, Noriko finally breaks down and begins to cry sobbing into her hands as the floodgates open - this young woman who has suffered in silence for so long, this good woman who refuse to believe she's good, for only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place. The bad know they are good, but the good know nothing. They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can't forgive themselves.
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
LOGOMACHY, n. A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem - a kind of contest in which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is denied the reward of success.