What do you think of this quote?

Question

Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made [man] is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one... that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~Mark Twain

Answer 1

he's not the first to say something like that. but his reading of it is clear. there is a metaphor in there that is easily missed. the dog. is a dog godly because it never kills? doesn't seek gratification? no the dog is godly because it cannot conjure false conceptions of reality to blind itself with.

Answer 2

Heaven is by favor (replace 'favor' by the word 'grace' and I agree);
if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. (Dogs do not have the capacity to sin and reject God's love).
Of all the creatures ever made man is the most detestable (Yes. Humans can be detestable and the following clauses are good reasons why).
Of the entire brood, he is the only one...that possesses malice (I agree).
He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. (I agree).

What do I think of Mark Twain's quote? This quote is classic Twain.

Answer 3

Mark Twain hit the nail on the head. Humans have an ability, not a Biblical right, but an ability none the less, and that is vengeance. People kill because someone cut them off on the highway, or because someone looked at them wrong.

Heaven...now there is a place prepared for us by Jesus and it is only with his blood applied to your soul will you enter into those Pearly Gates!

Answer 4

Yes, I hear you. Man is very cruel and some of the evil that goes on is just beyond imagination. I think Mark Twain understood the human race. The only exception to that would be the Pit Bull.

Answer 5

It is only one half of a truth|


As man can be debased and evil, only man of the creatures of this earth can rise to the height of virtue and sanctity|


An animal can only be *helpful,* *destructive,* *pleasant,* or *unpleasant.*

It is incapable of true *moral* or *immoral* behavior|


But because man has a soul with a *rational intellect* and a *free-will,* he can *maliciously hurt* or *lovingly give happiness.*

Although the pain that an evil man can inflict is like no other (and like no mere animal can do), the pleasure, the joy, the happiness that comes from the good man or woman cannot be given by any animal.


It all comes from Aristotle's axiom: the corruption of the best is the worse|

That is, the better something is in itself, the worse it is when it goes wrong|






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Answer 6

Yeah right. Mark Twain never had the National Geographic Channel.

Answer 7

I would guess that was written in Twain's later career, perhaps in the "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg" period. Mark was rather bitter at that point.

Answer 8

Mark Twain never owned a cat. My cat is malicious.

Answer 9

I believe Samuel Clemens was a very bright man.

Answer 10

sounds like a Good Book