Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Well, my book is written-let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library-and a pen warmed up in hell.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the limitations of writing and the unexpressed thoughts that remain within a person.
Mark Twain expresses a deep sense of frustration about the unexpressed ideas and emotions that reside within him, suggesting that while his book is complete, there are countless thoughts left unsaid. He implies that the act of writing is inherently limiting, as it can only capture a fraction of one's inner world, and it humorously hints at the intensity of emotion required to truly convey what he feels.
Themes
WritingExpressionLimitationsFrustrationThoughts
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, to emphasize the importance of capturing all emotions.
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.
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
What the poor need is not charity, but capital, not caseworkers but coworkers.
Clarence JordanRead
I think objectivity is like this strange myth that people think you're supposed to achieve, but actually, the dirty little secret is that it's not attainable any more than pure justice is attainable by the courts.
Sebastian JungerRead
Neutral men are the devil's allies.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
We've been deceived by the thought that we would be more pleasing to God in our own way than in the way God has given us.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
We are in front of a global scandal of around one billion - one billion people who still suffer from hunger today. We cannot look the other way and pretend this does not exist. The food available in the world is enough to feed everyone.
Pope FrancisRead
And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God's hands and leave it with Him.
Edith SteinRead