A collection of inspiring Mark Twain Travel Quotes with pictures.
Some will make you want to travel again, others are funny and even thoughtful sayings.
Get inspired with more Travel Quotes!
Table of Contents
Mark Twain was a well-traveled US-American author of the 19th century.
You mostly know two of his works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He also published travel books such as “The Innocents Abroad” and “Life on the Mississippi”.
His wise words still resonate with us today. They are full of humor and wisdom. Some will give you something to think about.
Here you will find some of the most inspiring Mark Twain travel quotes with images and a short interpretation.
1. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
Sometimes we need a little push in life. Fear and the unknown can paralyze us. To travel also means to broaden your perspective, and this quote nails this thought really well.
Look, I know the pandemic has created a lot of hurdles BUT I say it’s time to get out there again. Get vaccinated, move out of your comfort zone and discover the world again.
2. Travel is fatal to prejudice…
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.
The Innocents Abroad (1869), Marc Twain
What Marc Twain is trying to say here? Take your bag and get out there! Your current bubble is limited and a trap to your mind and thought process.
I think many people really need to see the world and how others live, it will cure them of their nonsense, destroy their senseless pride and make them better humans.
3. The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.
When you love what you do, it is not work. Mr. Twain tries to emphasize this point by comparing vocation with vacation.
Work should be something you want to do, something that broadens your mind.
Think: What is your calling? How can you enrich the world around you?
4. I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.
People show their true selves when they travel because travel is not always comfortable and you end up spending more time with them on a long journey.
Roadtrips are a good example of when folks tend to get to know each other better. Perhaps it’s a good idea to travel with your new love to test the waters?
5. Nothing so liberalizes a man…
…nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.
Letter to the San Francisco newspaper Alta California
This is another travel equals mind-broadening quote of Mark Twains.
6. One must travel, to learn.
Just think of all the things that you can learn when you travel the world. You learn about other people and how they live their lives. You learn new foods, new skills and you get to discover some of the most amazing corners in the world.
Most importantly you learn how to make friends with strangers from other cultures.
7. What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth.
Mark Twain got it right, travel will help you in your journey in life. You will have to face your fears of the unknown and in the process, you will grow and in time indulge in a life that you carved out for yourself. Because you dared to!
8. Whenever you find yourself on the side of majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.
This quote is loosely connected to travel. I think critical thinking is important, especially when you travel.
Don’t just follow the others because the fear of being alone is holding you back. No! Make your own decisions, it’s your journey and only YOU can be YOU.
9. Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.
How many books have you read to help you dream of places? Stories that transported you away because you wished you were there or because you wanted to learn about a culture somewhere in the world.
10. Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Illusions are also dreams. They are what drive you, what makes you want to move forward to find yourself.
Stop dreaming, you are just an empty shell.
11. We wish to learn all the curious, outlandish ways of all the different countries…
We wish to learn all the curious, outlandish ways of all the different countries so that we can “show off” and astonish people when we get home. We wish to excite the envy of our untraveled friends with our strange foreign fashions which we can’t shake off.
The Innocents Abroad (1869), Marc Twain
Inspire others, tell them of your travel tales. Make them want to travel themselves, so explore and to live properly before they part from this beautiful world.
12. Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Let’s do a reality check. I don’t know who needs to hear that, but the world doesn’t turn around you.
13. The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.
When you get too comfortable in your place, your sanctuary, your home, your country, you tend to lose perspective. Entitlement and pride are just some of the results.
The cure? Travel the world! Get to new places, get out there, and make it count.
14. To go abroad…
To go abroad has something of the same sense that death brings. I am no longer of ye-what ye say of me is now of no consequence.
You lose your security when you dare to travel to new places. At home, you have your friends, your family, all those supporting you…
A new you can only become if you dare to take a leap of faith. Step into an unknown world, and you will grow above everybody at home and be somebody with experience.
At this stage you learn to give a f***. You don’t care anymore what people say about you and it resembles somewhat death. You have gained on wisdom my friend.
15. Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful of your life.
Every day counts, and every day you can learn so much from this world.
16. To forget pain is to be painless; to forget care is to be rid of it; to go abroad is to accomplish both.
When you explore the world, you learn to adapt, to be flexible, and to expect less. When you expect less, you can not get disappointed. Pain and care are somewhat connected to this worldview.
17. There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a cheerful, careless voyage.
Well, dear Mr Twain, that shall be your perspective. Can you relate to that?
Tell us in the comment section, which is your favorite Mark Twain Quote?
I can relate to quote number 9. It was the driving force to plan a visit to Venice Italy.
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