I do love many of the oft-quoted 'classic' lines from the likes of Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, Woody Allen, Dorothy Parker, George Bernard Shaw, and other luminaries.
Here are some from Mark Twain:
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.
I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't.
I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.
It is better to deserve honors and not have them, than to have them and not to deserve them.
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
When in doubt, tell the truth.
Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.
Familiarity breeds contempt - and children.
My favorite:
Golf is a good walk spoiled
And his most famous, after hearing that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal:
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
There are many more, of course. What a great wit.
