There is no one to compare her with, none to measure her by; for all others among the illustrious _grew_ towards their high place in an atmosphere and surroundings which discovered their gift to them and nourished it and promoted it, intentionally or unconsciously. There have been other young generals, but they were not girls; young generals, but they have been soldiers before they were generals: she _began_ as a general. She commanded the first army she ever saw; she led it from victory to victory, and never lost a battle with it; there have been young commanders-in-chief, but none so young as she: she is the only soldier in history who has held the supreme command of a nation’s armies at the age of seventeen. _FROM_ “FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR” PUDD’NHEAD WILSON’S NEW CALENDAR (1896–7) A man may have no bad habits and have worse. When in doubt, tell the truth. It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right. A dozen direct censures are easier to bear than one morganatic compliment. Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid. He was as shy as a newspaper is when referring to its own merits. Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. It is your human environment that makes climate. Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more. There are those who scoff at the schoolboy, calling him frivolous and shallow. Yet it was the schoolboy who said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” We can secure other people’s approval, if we do right and try hard; but our own is worth a hundred of it, and no way has been found out of securing that. Truth is stranger than fiction—to some people, but I am measurably familiar with it. Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. There is a Moral Sense, and there is an Immoral Sense. History shows us that the Moral Sense enables us to perceive morality and how to avoid it, and that the Immoral Sense enables us to perceive immorality and how to enjoy it. The English are mentioned in the Bible: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It is easier to stay out than to get out. Pity is for the living, envy is for the dead.