Mark Twain: A Biography: Volume 2: 1886 - 1910

Mark Twain's humour has secured him a large audience not only in America and this country, but also in Germany and other Continental countries. It is the dry, incisive humour of a shrewd man of the world who, having gone through life with his eyes wide open, has cheered himself by laughing not merely at the faibles of his fellow-men, but, by implication, at his own as well. He was not very reverent in his attitude towards what he considers worn-out survivals of old beliefs and superstitions...