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On the Decay of the Art of Lying

By Mark Twain

2019-08-27 03:03:05

"On the Decay of the Art of Lying" is a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. Twain published the text in The Stolen White Elephant Etc. (1882). In the essay, Twain ... Read more
"On the Decay of the Art of Lying" is a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. Twain published the text in The Stolen White Elephant Etc. (1882). In the essay, Twain laments the four ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man's 'most faithful friend'. He concludes by insisting that: "the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling." Less

Book Details

File size16.388 KB
Print pages24
PublisherPublic Domain Books
LanguageEnglish
ISBN978-1976047657
autor-image
Mark Twain
Author
Born in Florida, Missouri, The United States November 30, 1835, Died: April 21, 1910 Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is no...

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