Mark Twain's Thoughts on the Scout Law

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was never a boy scout but no one has ever written more poignantly about boyhood. His contrarian, cross grained and curmudgeonly persona could not completely conceal his humanitarianism.

Here are some of his thoughts applied to the scout law:

Trustworthy
"I am different from [George] Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't."

Loyal
"You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions, or its office holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out..."

Helpful
"Be virtuous and you will be eccentric."
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

Friendly
"I can live for two months on a good compliment."
"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."

Courteous
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

Kind
"The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession--what there is of it."

Obedient
"Always obey your parents, when they are present. Most parents think they know more than you do; and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment."

Cheerful
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up."

Thrifty
"Of course you can save money by denying yourself all these little vicious enjoyments for fifty years, but then what can you do with it? -what use can you put it to? Money can't save your infinitesimal soul; all the use that money can be put to is to purchase comfort and enjoyment in this life -therefore, as you are an enemy to comfort and enjoyment, where is the use in accumulating cash?"

Brave
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward, it is not a compliment to say he is brave; it is merely a loose misapplication of the word."

Clean
"... I do despise this washing business. I believe it to be a gratuitous & unnecessary piece of meanness. I never see them wash the cat."

Reverent
"Reverence for one's own sacred things--parents, religion, flag, laws and respect for one's own beliefs--these are feelings which we cannot even help. They come natural to us... But the reverence which is difficult... is the respect which you pay, without compulsion, to the political or religious attitude of a man whose beliefs are not yours. You can't revere his gods or his politics, and no one expects you to do that, but you could respect his belief in them if you tried hard enough; and you could respect him, too, if you tried hard enough."

"Mark Twain was the nicest man I ever worked with. You couldn't imagine a more congenial fellow." - Daniel Carter Beard