I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is my feeling yet. Before the spelling book came with its arbitrary forms, men...

Twichell has had many adventures. He has more adventures in a year than anybody else has in five. One Saturday night he noticed a bottle...

you can’t be successfully funny if you show that you are afraid of it. Twain, Mark. Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and...

Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Twain, Mark....

Temperaments are born, not made, and they cannot be changed, by time, nor training, nor by any other force. Twain, Mark. Autobiography of...

I had learned that it is not wise to keep the fire going under a slander unless you can get some large advantage out of keeping it alive....

a maxim of mine that whenever a man preferred being fed by any other man to starving in independence he ought to be shot. Twain, Mark....

Demosthenes agreed with Cicero’s judgment. When someone asked him what the most effective device in speaking was, he replied, “Acting.”...

Quintus Hortensius believed that everything depended on graceful physical gestures, and he put almost more effort into working on them...

The proof of this notion must be shown in the case of famous personalities. Gaius Gracchus was a young man who was more fortunate in his...

The mere mention of the name of Demosthenes brings up the image of the greatest perfection in eloquence before the mind of the person who...

Roscius should not be left out, as he was the most famous case of dedication to the stage. When he faced the general public, Roscius...

All these witnesses were disregarded, but I shall tell of one man whose prestige was validated and influenced the court in a strange new...

Well, from his legal battles in the courts, Cicero won the highest honors and the most distinguished rank, but wasn’t his testimony...

Gaius Cosconius was accused under the Servilian law, and because of his many obvious crimes, there was no doubt that he was guilty. But...

I shall add the story of two men who were acquitted through the fault of their accusers. Marcus Flavius was brought on trial before the...

How cleverly indeed Anacharsis used to compare laws with spider-webs! Just a web catches weaker creatures and lets the stronger ones get...

The following remark was no less wise. A father with only one daughter asked Themistocles whether he should marry her off to a man who...

Well? Wasn’t the reply of Xenocrates admirable! He was there when some men were gossiping maliciously, but he kept completely silent. One...

When he saw one of his friends grieving bitterly, Solon led him to the top of the city and urged him to look all around at the houses...

When Socrates was asked by a young man whether he should take a wife or avoid marriage altogether, Socrates replied that whichever the...

Socrates also used to say that there was a quick and short road for those who wanted to attain glory: they would have to make sure that...

Gyges was conceited about his kingdom of Lydia, which abounded in riches and military power, so he came to Pythian Apollo to ask whether...

We have told several stories about the fickleness of Fortune, but very few stories can be told about her being consistently well...