By CLARA CARTRETTE

I have enjoyed Mark Twain’s books, essays, stories and especially his brief quotes for as long as I can remember. His light, humorous, common sense style of writing always made sense to me, even as a child.

One of the highlights of my travels was touring Mark Twain’s quirky house in Hartford, Conn. where he lived and worked from 1874-91. The architectural design bears a strong resemblance to a riverboat, Twain’s choice perhaps because he once captained a riverboat.

Not too far from the Twain house is the Harriett Beecher Stowe house and library, which also provided several hours of entertainment. She published 30 books and countless shorter pieces, including “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Mark Twain was a journalist and humorist who captured worldwide attention for stories about his youthful adventures in “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn.” He published more than 30 books, hundreds of short stories and essays and gave lecture tours around the world. Twain was a quintessential American author, capturing in his works the spirit, character and even dialect of a diverse nation. His humor and satire provided a running commentary on American society, and his writings often critiqued politics and politicians.

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on Nov. 30, 1835 in Florida, Mo., he grew up in Hannibal, Mo. He was apprenticed to a printer after his father’s death in 1847, and he wrote for his brother’s newspaper. He later worked as a Mississippi riverboat pilot. The Civil War put an end to the steamboat traffic and Clemens moved to Virginia City, where he edited the Territorial Enterprise.

“Mark Twain” was born when Clemens signed a humorous travel account with that pseudonym in 1863. He became a reporter in San Francisco the following year. He went to Hawaii as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union, publishing letters about his trip and giving lectures. He set out on a world tour, spent time in France and Italy and his experiences were printed in “The Innocents Abroad.” His poking fun at American and European prejudices and manners gained wide popularity.

Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870 and they moved to Hartford the next year. They had four children: Langdon, who died in infancy, Susy, Clara and Jean. He continued to lecture in the United States and England and between 1876 and 1884 he published masterpieces such as “Tom Sawyer,” “The Prince And The Pauper,” “Life On The Mississippi,” and “Huckleberry Finn.”

During the next decade Twain went bankrupt through financial speculations and his failing publishing firm. To recover, he started a world lecture tour during which one of his daughters died. He toured New Zealand, Australia, India and South Africa, writing such books as “The Tragedy Of Pudd’head Wilson,” “Personal Recollections Of Joan Of Arc,” “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” and the travel book “Following The Equator.” The death of his wife and second daughter darkened the author’s later years, which is seen in his autobiography that was published posthumously in 1924.

Twain died on April 21, 1910, and his popularity has risen steadily since his death. His satire is humorous, yet thought provoking, and his writing style is simple and conversational. Ernest Hemingway said that modern American literature “begins with Huckleberry Finn.”

Twain left wonderful stories, books, essays and quotes for children and adults to enjoy.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.

An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.

Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.

One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven’t been done before.

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.

Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.

I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.

I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.

I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.

I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Most people are bothered by those passages of scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.

The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.

When in doubt, tell the truth.

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.