“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” And, your courage will grow each time you act in spite of your fear. Whatever you fear-personal or professional-face it with courage. Nelson Mandela said, “ The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” You’ll see what Twain said about that in the last quote. Sometimes you’ll fear things that will never even occur. Often, fear itself is your biggest enemy. We think about how we would have behaved in a similar situation. Many reject that title and say they just acted instinctively even though they were afraid. We admire their courage and call them heroes. ![]() They may have saved someone from danger or perhaps certain death. We see examples in the news daily of ordinary people rising to meet dangerous, even deadly, challenges in spite of their fear. Being able to act in spite of our fear is the hallmark of courage. We all face fears in our personal lives and our professional lives as well.Įxperiencing fear is not a sign of weakness, it is a natural attribute of being a human-a normal human being. Many things in this world cause fear, and it seems the list is growing. “ Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” On this subject, Twain also said, “ If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And, you may be tempted to do the small, easy things first and tackle the big stuff after, which often makes deferring the big stuff more likely. There are many reasons we procrastinate-we dread it, we think it’ll be too hard, it’s too boring, we detest it-so whatever it is, start it. Procrastination is a challenge for many people, perhaps most of us. You can’t accomplish something you never begin. To do anything-from a simple task to a complex project-you have to start. That’s about as simple and straightforward as it gets, right? If you want to go somewhere, you can’t arrive until you travel, and you can’t do that until you start. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Here are seven of his witty and wise quotations among my favorites. He wrote two great classic American novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To help support the family, he worked as a printer, writer, and steamboat pilot.Īs an author, Twain drew on life and events from his youth. In his childhood, he was exposed to the poverty, vices, and violence of the area. At age 12 and living in Hannibal, a town on the Mississippi River, Sam’s father died, and the family struggled financially. Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born in Florida, Missouri in 1835. You can listen to the author narrate this article here.These two parts of the American Psyche have been at war since the beginning of the nation, and come to think of it, these two parts of the World Psyche have been at war since the beginning of the world, and the hope of the nation and of the world is to embrace the Huck part and send the Tom part back up the river, where it belongs. Huck likes people, fair play, spreading the truck around. Tom likes kings, codified nobility, unquestioned privilege. It looks at inequity and says: All my life I have busted my butt to get where I am, so don't come crying to me. The United States of Tom looks at misery and says: Hey, I didn't do it. ![]() America is, and always has been, undecided about whether it will be the United States of Tom or the United States of Huck. They exist side by side in every American and every American action. “Huck and Tom represent two viable models of the American Character.
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