Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Very well, then, where do we arrive? Where do we arrive with our respect, our homage, our filial affection? At Adam! At Adam, every time. We can't build a monument to a germ, but we can build one to Adam, who is in the way to turn myth in in fifty years and be entirely forgotten in two hundred. We can build a monument and save his name to the world forever, and we'll do it!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing and honoring foundational figures in history, even as they may fade into myth over time.
Mark Twain reflects on the legacy of significant historical figures, particularly Adam, as symbols of humankind's origins. He argues that while we may not commemorate the mundane aspects of existence, we can and should build a lasting tribute to those figures that embody our shared heritage, ensuring their names and contributions are remembered even as time seeks to obscure them.
Themes
LegacyHistoryMemoryMonumentRecognition
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about the importance of preserving historical figures in education.
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
But when one believes in the reality of things, making them visible by artificial means is not quite the same as feeling that they are close at hand.
Marcel ProustRead
There are some facts that will never change. One fact is that you are forgiven. If you are in Christ, when he sees you, your sins are covered-he doesn't see them. He sees you better than you see yourself.
Max LucadoRead
We are ever dying to one world and being born into another.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.
Viktor E. FranklRead
If you want to study the social and political history of modern nations, study hell.
Thomas MertonRead
Instead of loaves of bread, many times God gives out handfuls of purpose.
T. D. JakesRead