Mark Twain 54

MONEY

     Mark Twain was of two minds about money.  In his life he made a fortune and he lost a fortune, more than once.  He was born in poverty, he was wealthy at the age of fitfty, bankrupt at sixty, and wealthy again at seventy.  His life story was a story of rags to riches, yet there was always a part of him, like Huckleberry Finn, more comfortable in rags.
     Mark Twain gave a name to the materialistic age he lived in:  "TheGilded Age."  He savagely satirized plutocrats in print.  Yet one of his best friends, Henry Rogers, was a millionaire.
     Once when Mark Twain was in Bermuda on a vecation with Rogers, a Bermudan remarked to Twain, "Your friend Rogers is a good fellow. It's a pity his money is tainted."
     "It's twice tainted," said Twain, nodding knowingly.  "Tain't yours, and tain't mine."

The lack of money is the root of all evil.

God was left out of the Constitution but was furnished a front seat on the coins of the country.

The motto ["In God We Trust'] stated a lie.  If this nation has ever trusted in God, that time has gone by; for nearly half a century almost its entire trust has been in the Republican party and the dollar--mainly the dollar.

There was never a nation in the world that put its whole trust in God. . . .I think it would better read, "Within certain judicious limitations we trust in God,"  and if there isn't enough room on the coin for this, why, enlarge the coin.    (from a 1908 speech: "Jumping to Conclusions")

Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship God, and over these ideals they dispute--but they all worship money.    (from an 1898 notebook)

Simple rules for saving money:  To save half, when you are fired by an eager impulse to contribute to charity, wait and count forty.  To save three-quarters, count sixty.  To save it all, count sixty-five.     (from Following the Equator, 1897)