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Mark Twain

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This article is about GritCult's view of Mark Twain. For a general overview, see Mark Twain on Wikipedia.

Mark Twain
“having a clean desk is a psy op some of the most creative and important thinkers in history? all had a…” (20 July 2022)
In the archive
PortalThe Doctrine
Posts26
Retweets88
Likes613
First post22 January 2018
Latest post5 December 2023
Posts by year
20187
20203
20217
20225
20234
Related

Mark Twain appears in 26 posts, nearly all of them quotations. GritCult uses him as a source of compact wisdom that fits his own themes: read more, distrust school, think against the crowd and find your purpose.

Views

The Twain lines he shares most cluster around learning. His most retweeted is "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read." [1] He posted "Don't let education get in the way of your learning" in 2020 and again in 2021, the second time with a gloss of his own: future generations will be ashamed that "we let our children become debt slaves and called brainwashing "education"" [2]. It fits his long campaign against schooling, with Twain enlisted as a witness for the self-taught. He also put Twain on a list of great thinkers with messy desks, proof that "having a clean desk is a psy op" [3].

The rest are about character and the crowd. "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" appears in 2018 and 2021 [4], a natural motto for a contrarian. He used "Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one" to argue that appeals to "privilege" and "social structures" are excuses for bad behaviour [5]. Purpose gets its turn with "the day you are born and the day you find out why" [6], and politics with the line that "POLITICIANS ARE LIKE DIAPERS" [7].

Recurring themes

  • reading as the dividing line
  • schooling against learning
  • suspicion of the majority
  • right conduct over law
  • purpose and the day you find out why

Notable post

The most retweeted GritCult post on the subject, with 19 retweets:

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”

― Mark Twain
GRITCULT on X, 1 September 2018

Selected posts

All 26 posts in the archive about Mark Twain, ranked by retweets. Select a column heading to sort.

DateRetweetsLikesPostMediaSource
1 September 20181970“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”

― Mark Twain		View
17 June 202217113THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT DAYS IN YOUR LIFE ARE THE DAY YOU ARE BORN AND THE DAY YOU FIND OUT WHY. - MARK TWAINView
22 November 2020936"Comparison is the death of joy" - Mark TwainView
9 December 2020845Don't let education get in the way of your learning. - Mark TwainView
20 July 2022742having a clean desk is a psy op

some of the most creative and important thinkers in history?

all had a messy desk

1. einstein
2. steve jobs
3. twain
4. the zuck		Post imageView
5 December 2023544"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."
— Mark Twain		View
1 December 2021423WHENEVER YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE SIDE OF THE MAJORITY, IT IS TIME TO PAUSE AND REFLECT. - MARK TWAINView
12 December 2020332"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark TwainView
9 May 2023321AGE IS AN ISSUE OF MIND OVER MATTER. IF YOU DON'T MIND, IT DOESN'T MATTER. - MARK TWAINView
9 May 2021232POLITICIANS ARE LIKE DIAPERS; THEY NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON. - MARK TWAINView
26 October 2022220"GRIEF CAN TAKE CARE OF ITSELF, BUT TO GET THE FULL VALUE OF A JOY YOU MUST HAVE SOMEBODY TO DIVIDE IT WITH." - MARK TWAINView
28 January 2021217"Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed." - Mark TwainView
14 August 2022214PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE. - MARK TWAINView
14 August 201828“I was in the death struggle with self:
God and Satan fought for my soul those three long hours.
God conquered
— now I have only one doubt left
— which of the twain was God?”

Crowley		View
25 February 2021117THE MORE THINGS ARE FORBIDDEN, THE MORE POPULAR THEY BECOME. - MARK TWAINView
19 January 2022116COURAGE IS NOT THE LACK OF FEAR. IT IS ACTING IN SPITE OF IT. - MARK TWAINView
28 March 2023116"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - Mark TwainView
6 March 2021016THE FUTURE WILL JUDGE US FOR THIS

Don't let education get in the way of your learning. - Mark Twain

future generations will look back at us with shame, ghasted at the thought we let our children become debt slaves and called brainwashing "education" they will be ashamed.		View
2 May 2021012"YOU CAN'T DEPEND ON YOUR EYES WHEN YOUR IMAGINATION IS OUT OF FOCUS." - MARK TWAINView
25 May 2023010"LET US NOT BE TOO PARTICULAR; IT IS BETTER TO HAVE OLD SECONDHAND DIAMONDS THAN NONE AT ALL." - MARK TWAINView
24 April 201803"Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one." Mark Twain

id expand this to social norms, some suggest its okay to act unrighteous and saying "privilege" and "social structures" as excuses for your behaviour

BUT at the end of the day they are excuses		View
9 July 201803true say:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”

― Mark Twain		View
12 November 202102"FEW THINGS ARE HARDER TO PUT UP WITH THAN A GOOD EXAMPLE." - MARK TWAINView
29 May 201801“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics”
- Mark Twain, 1906		View
22 January 201800Never the twain shall meetView
2 February 201800@luvs2plyglf @CamFAwesome yeah my point is morals are subjective, your view that they are objective is also subjective on you, ergo my reasoning that they should be rationalised from first principles.

"Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one." Mark Twain		View

History

GritCult first posted about Mark Twain on 22 January 2018, and most recently on 5 December 2023. Across the archive the subject comes up 26 times, most often in 2018 (7 posts).

See also

The Doctrine portal

References

  1. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (1 September 2018). The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read. X.
  2. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (6 March 2021). future generations will look back at us with shame, ghasted at the thought we let our children become debt slaves and called brainwashing "education". X.
  3. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (20 July 2022). having a clean desk is a psy op. X.
  4. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (1 December 2021). WHENEVER YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE SIDE OF THE MAJORITY, IT IS TIME TO PAUSE AND REFLECT. X.
  5. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (24 April 2018). id expand this to social norms, some suggest its okay to act unrighteous and saying "privilege" and "social structures" as excuses for your behaviour. X.
  6. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (17 June 2022). THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT DAYS IN YOUR LIFE ARE THE DAY YOU ARE BORN AND THE DAY YOU FIND OUT WHY. X.
  7. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (9 May 2021). POLITICIANS ARE LIKE DIAPERS; THEY NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON. X.
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