“ If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. ”
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894). copy citation
| Author | Mark Twain |
|---|---|
| Source | Pudd'nhead Wilson |
| Topic | man dog gratitude |
| Date | 1894 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/102/102-h/102-h.htm |
Context
“Tom went aboard one of the big transient boats that night with his heavy satchel of miscellaneous plunder, and slept the sleep of the unjust, which is serener and sounder than the other kind, as we know by the hanging-eve history of a million rascals. But when he got up in the morning, luck was against him again: A brother-thief had robbed him while he slept, and gone ashore at some intermediate landing.
214 CHAPTER XVI. Sold Down the River. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.—Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.
We know all about the habits of the ant, we know all about the habits of the bee, but we know nothing at all about the habits of the oyster. It seems almost certain that we have been choosing the wrong time for studying the oyster.—Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.” source
214 CHAPTER XVI. Sold Down the River. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.—Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.
We know all about the habits of the ant, we know all about the habits of the bee, but we know nothing at all about the habits of the oyster. It seems almost certain that we have been choosing the wrong time for studying the oyster.—Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.” source
Meaning and analysis
