9 Great Mark Twain Quotes on Travel, Writing, and Life

9 Great Mark Twain Quotes on Travel, Writing, and Life SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Mark Twain has been a household name since the nineteenth century. Known for the bestselling adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Twain has also gained popularity for the pithy words of wisdom he shared. Mark Twain's Biography Mark Twain grew up in the town of Hannibal, Missouri, which was the setting of both Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Before he became a renowned author, Twain was an apprentice to a printer, then went on to be a typesetter for a newspaper company owned by Orion Clemens, his older brother. Twain attributed his later success in journalism and writing to his experiences working in mines and on riverboats. Christened by William Faulkner as â€Å"the father of American literature,† Twain authored some of the most popular works in American history, including A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and more. 9 Great Mark Twain Quotes Mark Twain was known for his quotes about life, honesty, racism, productivity, and more. Here are some of the best Mark Twain quotes about life. Mark Twain Quotes About Honesty "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." â€Å"Mark Twain's Notebook" edited by Albert Paine. According to Mark Twain's quote on honesty, telling the truth saves you from the stress of having to remember the lives you’ve told. Life is easier, the air feels fresher, and stress melts away if you live your life simply and honestly. Mark Twain Quotes About Conflict "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." "Mark Twain's Notebook" edited by Albert Paine. In this quote, Mark Twain examines the value in swimming against the current. According to Twain, people that refuse to conform with the crowd become leaders, while others are followers. The quote asks the reader to consider: why stay with the crowd? What can be gained? What can be lost? Mark Twain Quotes About Conformity "Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world - and never will." "Bite-Size Twain" by Mark Twain Like the previous quote, this quote highlights the futility of staying loyal to a thought or opinion that doesn't make sense. In fact, Twain goes so far as to say that sticking to ideas held in the past actively prevents progress. Mark Twain Quotes About Imagination "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain This quote highlights the idea that your eyes are fallible: they’ll see what they want to see. If you want to see something, you’ll see it, even if it’s not already there. Mark Twain Quotes About Popularity "The best of us would rather be popular than right." "No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger" By Mark Twain This Mark Twain quote calls out one of humanity’s biggest faults: most of us would rather be beloved than correct. That desire for acceptance and appreciation drives us more than anything else. Mark Twain Quotes About Prejudice "I have no race prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse." "Concerning the Jews" by Mark Twain This quote by Mark Twain highlights the writer’s view of prejudice. Twain indicates that all he cares about is whether or not someone is a human being. Nothing else matters. Mark Twain Quotes About Temptation "To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing." "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain This quote highlights a well-known conundrum: nothing makes you want to do something like being told you can’t do it. Mark Twain Quotes About Productivity "I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up." "The Innocents Abroad" By Mark Twain Here, Twain highlights his tendency towards procrastination. He’s not the only one who avoids decision-making! Mark Twain Quotes About Travel "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." "The Innocents Abroad" By Mark Twain According to Twain, travel is the antidote for prejudice. When you see the world, you can’t help but open your eyes to different kinds of people. â€Å"It liberates the vandal to travel - you never saw a bigoted, opinionated, stubborn, narrow-minded, self-conceited, almighty mean man in your life but he had stuck in one place since he was born and thought God made the world and dyspepsia and bile for his especial comfort and satisfaction.† â€Å"The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain† by Mark Twain This quote follows a similar train of thought as the previous quote: travel helps people learn about and appreciate other peoples and cultures. Mark Twain Didn’t Say That There are plenty of quotes attributed to Mark Twain. There are also plenty of quotes inaccurately attributed to Mark Twain. Here are some of our favorite quotes that Mark Twain didn’t say: â€Å"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.† â€Å"The secret of getting ahead is getting started.† "Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.† â€Å"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.† â€Å"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.† Mark Twain Quotes: Final Thoughts As a famed writer, it’s not surprising that so many of Mark Twain’s sayings have made it to present day. Did we include your favorites? Let us know in the comments. What's Next? Not sure what literary devices are or how to use them? Here are some in-depth posts on imagery, assonance, point of view, and personification that define these important terms and show you how to find them in literature. Learning to interpret poetry? Luckily, we have great resources for you! Check out this post that walks you through a complete analysis of the poem â€Å"Do not go gentle into that good night.† Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Hayley Milliman About the Author Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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1979 Seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca

1979 Seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca The seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 is a seminal event in the evolution of Islamist terrorism. Yet the seizure is mostly a footnote in contemporary history. It shouldnt be. The Grand Mosque in Mecca is a massive, 7-acre compound that can accommodate some 1 million worshippers at any one time, especially during the annual hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca centered on circling the sacred Kaaba in the heart of the Grand Mosque. The marble mosque in its current shape is the result of a 20-year, $18 billion renovation project began in 1953 by the House of Saud, the ruling monarchy in Saudi Arabia, which considers itself the guardian and custodian of the Arab Peninsula’s holiest sites, the Grand Mosque topmost among them. The monarchy’s contractor of choice was the Saudi Bin Laden Group, led by the man who in 1957, became the father of Osama bin Laden. The Grand Mosque, however, first came to wide Western attention on November 20, 1979. Coffins as Weapons Cache: Seizure of the Grand Mosque At 5 that morning, the final day of the hajj, Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil, imam of the Grand Mosque, was preparing to address 50,000 worshipers through a microphone inside the mosque. Among the worshipers, what looked like mourners bearing coffins on their shoulders and wearing headbands made their way through the crowd. It wasnt an unusual sight. Mourners often brought their dead for a blessing at the mosque. But they had no mourning in mind. Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil was shoved aside by men who took machine guns from beneath their robes, fired them in the air and at a few policemen nearby, and yelled to the crowd that â€Å"The Mahdi has appeared!† Mahdi is the Arabic word for messiah. The mourners set their coffins down, opened them up, and produced an arsenal of weaponry that they then brandished and fired at the crowd. That was only part of their arsenal. An Attempted Overthrow by a Would-Be Messiah The attack was led by Juhayman al-Oteibi, a fundamentalist preacher and former member of the Saudi National Guard, and Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani, who claimed to be the Mahdi. The two men openly called for a revolt against the Saudi monarchy, accusing it of having betrayed Islamic principles and sold out to western countries. The militants, who numbered close to 500, were well armed, their weapons, in addition to their coffin arsenal, having been stashed gradually in the days and weeks before the assault in small chambers beneath the Mosque. They were prepared to lay siege to the mosque for a long time. The siege lasted two weeks, though it did not end before a bloodbath in underground chambers where militants had retreated with hundreds of hostagesand bloody repercussions in Pakistan and Iran. In Pakistan, a mob of Islamist students enraged by a false report that the United States was behind the mosque seizure, attacked the American embassy in Islamabad and killed two Americans. Irans Ayatollah Khomeini called the attack and the murders a great joy, and also blamed the seizure on the United States and Israel. In Mecca, Saudi authorities considered attacking the hold-outs without regard for the hostages. Instead, Prince Turki, the youngest son of King Faisal and the man in charge of reclaiming the Grand Mosque, summoned a French secret service officer, Count Claude Alexandre de Marenches, who recommended that the hold-outs be gassed unconscious. Indiscriminate Killing As Lawrence Wright describes it in The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, A team of three French commandos from the Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN) arrived in Mecca. Because of the prohibition against non-Muslims entering the holy city, they converted to Islam in a brief, formal ceremony. The commandos pumped gas into the underground chambers, but perhaps because the rooms were so bafflingly interconnected, the gas failed and the resistance continued.With casualties climbing, Saudi forces drilled holes into the courtyard and dropped grenades into the rooms below, indiscriminately killing many hostages but driving the remaining rebels into more open areas where they could be picked off by sharpshooters. More than two weeks after the assault began, the surviving rebels finally surrendered. At dawn on Jan. 9, 1980, in the public squares of eight Saudi cities, including Mecca, 63 Grand Mosque militants were beheaded by sword on orders of the king. Among the condemned, 41 are Saudi, 10 from Egypt, 7 from Yemen (6 of them from what was then South Yemen), 3 from Kuwait, 1 from Iraq and 1 from the Sudan. Saudi authorities report that 117 militants died as a result of the siege, 87 during the fighting, 27 in hospitals. Authorities also noted that 19 militants received death sentences that were later commuted to life in prison. Saudi security forces suffered 127 deaths and 451 wounded. Were the bin Ladens Involved? This much is known: Osama bin Laden would have been 22 at the time of the attack. He would have likely heard Juhayman al-Oteibi preach. The Bin Laden Group was still heavily involved in the renovation of the Grand Mosque: the company’s engineers and workers had open access to the mosque’s grounds, Bin Laden trucks were inside the compound frequently, and bin Laden workers were familiar with the compound’s every recess: they built some of them. It would be a stretch, however, to assume that because the bin Ladens were involved in construction, they were also involved in the attack. What’s also known is that the company shared all maps and layouts they had of the mosque with authorities to facilitate the Saudi Special Forces’ counter-attack. It would not have been in the bin Laden Group’s interest, enriched as it had become almost exclusively through Saudi government contracts, to aid the regime’s opponents. Just as certainly, what Juhayman al-Oteibi and the â€Å"Mahdi† were preaching, advocating and rebelling against is almost word for word, eye for an eye, what Osama bin Laden would preach and advocate subsequently. The Grand Mosque takeover was not an al-Qaeda operation by any means. But it would become an inspiration, and a stepping stone, to al-Qaeda less than a decade and a half later.