Tom Sawyer Quotes

Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece - all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round - more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back. ~ Mark Twain

Mark Twain didn't psychoanalyze Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. Dickens didn't put Oliver Twist on the couch because he was hungry! Good copy comes out of people, Johnny, not out of a lot of explanatory medical terms. ~ Samuel Fuller

Do you reckon Tom Sawyer was satisfied after all them adventures? ~ Mark Twain

Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees - something was a stirring. I set still and listened. Directly I could just barely hear a "me-yow! me-yow!" down there. That was good! Says I, "me-yow! me-yow!" as soft as I could, and then I put out the light and scrambled out of the window on to the shed. Then I slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees, and, sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me. ~ Mark Twain

Unlike television, reading does not swallow the senses or dictate thought. Reading stimulates the ecology of the imagination. Can you remember the wonder you felt when first reading The Jungle Book or Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn? Kipling's world within a world; Twain's slow river, the feel of freedom and sand on the secret island, and in the depths of the cave? ~ Richard Louv

I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together. Miss ~ Mark Twain

The Great Gatsby' [ ... ] was my 'Tom Sawyer' when I was twelve [ ... ] ~ J.D. Salinger

Tom Sawyer said I was a numskull. ~ Mark Twain

MONDAY morning found Tom Sawyer miserable. Monday morning always found him so - because it began another week's slow suffering in school. He generally began that day with wishing he had had no intervening holiday, it made the going into captivity and fetters again so much more odious. ~ Mark Twain

What we got is NOW, Huck, and now is forever. Until it ain't. So, you can't worry over nothing except putting off the end a your story as long as you can, and finishing it with a bang. ~ Robert Coover

This ain't no thirty-seven year job, this is a thirty-eight year job, Tom Sawyer. ~ Mark Twain

Things settled into a lazy pattern. School, chores, and long hours down by the river. Kiernan talked about the books he read sometimes, even loaned me a few. But I liked it better when he read to me or just told me the stories. The words were more real that way, more exciting. Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Ragged Dick, and all the others seemed flat and dull on the page, but Kiernan was good at making them come alive. ~ Rysa Walker

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. ~ Mark Twain

My parents placed a high value on reading, starting with the King James Bible, and one whole wall of our living room was filled, floor to ceiling, with books. But I was an outside kid and didn't have the patience to be a reader. That changed, briefly, when I discovered Tom Sawyer in the fourth grade. That was the one book I truly loved. I read it several times, then read Huckleberry Finn. I was fascinated by the way Twain played with language and used regional dialects. But what amazed me most was that Twain allowed the reader to laugh. Reading didn't have to be drudgery. Twain didn't allow it. ~ John R. Erickson

I liked Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and that is the kind of character that I would like to have played. That would have been more in tune with who I really was. ~ Keith Thibodeaux

All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorms room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my Essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. ~ Rick Riordan

Like Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence, authors trick readers into doing most of the imaginative work. ~ Jonathan Gottschall

There on the dune, beside the table, one of the camel boys has his arm around the other, and they sit there like that as they watch the sun. The dunes are turning the same shades of adobe and aqua as the buildings of Marrakech. Two boys, arms around each other. To Less, it seems so foreign. It makes him sad. In his world, he never sees straight men doing this. Just as a gay couple cannot walk hand in hand down the streets of Marrakech, he thinks, two men, best friends, cannot walk hand in hand down the streets of Chicago. They cannot sit on a dune like these teenagers and watch a sunset in each other's embrace. This Tom Sawyer love for Huck Finn. ~ Andrew Sean Greer

If Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer were alive today, we'd say they had ADD or a conduct disorder. They [boys] are who they are, and we need to love them for who they are. Let's not try to rewire them. ~ Michael Gurian

Looking' his last' upon the scene of his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing 'she' could see him now, abroad on the wild sea, facing peril and death with a dauntless heart, going to his doom with a grim smile on his lips. ~ Mark Twain

I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, and it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. ~ Mark Twain

I lived through those books, songs, television shows, and movies - the way the characters talked, looked, acted. I thought that could translate over into reality, that I could make their world my world. I wanted so badly to run away from my life. But you can't bury yourself in other people's pages and scenes. You aren't David Copperfield or Tom Sawyer. Those love songs on the radio might speak to you, but they're not about you or the person you pine for. Life is not a John Hughes film. ~ Jason Diamond

One poor chap, who had no other grandeur to offer, said with tolerably manifest pride in the remembrance: 'Well, Tom Sawyer he licked me once.' But that bid for glory was a failure. Most of the boys could say that, and so that cheapened the distinction too much." ~From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Scene where the neighbor boys were lamenting over Tom's apparent drowning. ~ Mark Twain

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly - Tom's Aunt Polly, she is - and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. ~ Mark Twain

This is not the real cave, is it?" asked Rachel.
"Can't be," said Jerry.
"Must be," said Dick. "Sign says so."
What a cave! Iron fencing all around it, a sign saying to keep out, even barbed wire along the top of the fence. They couldn't see the entrance to the cave. They couldn't tell how deep into the earth and rock it went. They couldn't tell whether this cave was like the cave in Tom Sawyer or what it was like...

"In old times, it was better," said Rachel. "They did not have cages around things. ~ Eleanor Estes

Though his mind is not for rent
Don't put him down as arrogant
His reserve, a quiet defense
Riding out the day's events

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society
Catch the mist, catch the myth
Catch the mystery, catch the drift

The world is, the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his skies are wide

Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the space he invades
He gets by on you

No his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society

The world is, the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his eyes are wide

Exit the warrior
Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the energy you trade
He gets right on to the friction of the day ~ Neil Peart

I came at last to a recognition of myself as, in part, a Tom Sawyer who wanted everything done according to the rules of romantic fiction, and complicated simple solutions with his absurd adolescent, book-born nonsense. ~ Robertson Davies

Do you know who Samuel Langhorne Clemens is, Antonio?" Bessie asked.
"No, chood I?" he said.
"He is best known as Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," she said.
"I have herd of the story, but I hav not red the booc," he said.
"Well, you should read it," she said. "It is excellent reading. An American classic. Mark Twain worked in Schoharie for a while," she said.
"Is that so?" he said.
"Yes, he worked as a brakeman on the Schoharie railroad station on Depot Street the winter of 1879, three years after he wrote his famous book," Bessie said.
"Why would he do that, a famos author?" Antonio asked.
"A self-published author, I should add. ~ Yasmin Tirado-Chiodini

Is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual - he is a ~ Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer the Pirate looked around upon the envying juveniles about him and confessed in his heart that this was the proudest moment of his life. ~ Mark Twain

Like every child growing up in America, I read 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn.' I liked them well enough, but I didn't love them. ~ Caroline Lawrence

'Tom Sawyer' could have been written eight months ago, with the kind of response it still gets. ~ Alex Lifeson

As usual, the fickle, unreasoning world took Muff Potter to its bosom and fondled him as lavishly as it had abused him before. But that sort of conduct is to the world's credit; therefore it is not well to find fault with it. ~ Mark Twain

Certainly. Of course. That's part of it. And always coming to school or when we're going home, you're to walk with me, when there ain't anybody looking – and you choose me and I choose you at parties, because that's the way you do when you're engaged. ~ Mark Twain

I felt very good; I judged I had done it pretty neat
I reckoned Tom Sawyer couldn't a done it no neater himself. Of course he would a throwed more style into it, but I can't do that very handy, not being brung up with it. ~ Mark Twain

You're right about this being limited to me, it's entirely a personal matter. But with some personal experiences that lead you way into a cave all by yourself, you must eventually come to a side tunnel or something opens on a truth that concerns not just yourself but everyone. And with that kind of experience at least the individual is rewarded for his suffering. Like Tom Sawyer! He had to suffer in a pitch-black cave, but at the same time he found his way out into the light he also found a bag of gold! But what I'm experiencing personally now is like digging a vertical mine shaft in isolation; it goes straight down to a hopeless depth and never opens on anybody else's world. So I can sweat and suffer in that same dark cave and my personal experience won't result in so much as a fragment of significance for anybody else. Hole-digging is all I'm doing, futile, shameful hole-digging; my Tom Sawyer is at the bottom of a desperately deep mine shaft and I wouldn't be surprised if he went mad! ~ Kenzaburo Oe

No machines will ever truly fully figure the brain out, because the brain's performance is constantly altered or else constrained by this inanimate, rogue artifact you can't control, namely, speech. ~ Tom Wolfe

We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother? ~ Tom Hanks

That's the past tense, Tom,' returned Mr. James Harthouse, striking the ash from his cigar with his little finger. 'We are in the present tense, now.' 'Verb ~ Charles Dickens

I couldn't control Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson or Lee Trevino. The only person I could control was me. The only person I could prepare for events was me. And if I didn't play well, I didn't play well, and I wasn't going to compete. ~ Jack Nicklaus

You never finish writing a novel, you eventually abandon it. ~ Tom Winton

Yes I still enjoy playing him. He's the best person to play isn't he? ~ Tom Felton

Arithmetic arithmetock
Turn the hands back on the clock
How does the ocean rock the boat?
How did the razor find my throat?
The only strings that hold me here
Are tangled up around the pier. ~ Tom Waits

I don't really collect guitars like some musicians do. ~ Tom Curren

Yeah, the world would swing if I were king.
Can I help it if I still dream time to time? ~ Tom Petty

Men can see the greatest miracles and miss the glory of God. What generation was ever favored with miracles as Jesus' generations was? Yet that generation crucified the Son of God! ~ Tom Wells

Practice is important. The regular season is important. Your meetings are important. Your walk-through is important. Everything is important. You want to be a championship team, there's a price to pay. And that's what you have to do. There's no shortcuts. You can't shortcut your way to success. ~ Tom Thibodeau

The data suggest that to have a thriving day, we need six hours of social time. ~ Tom Rath

It seems no body's business to try to better things ~ Tom Hodgkinson

Sometimes one gets the feeling that life still thinks it's living in Paris in the '30s. ~ Tom Robbins

The President was trapped – and with nearly every president, it had come about from his own words. Presidential promises and statements… The people had this annoying way of remembering them. And even if they didn't, there were journalists and political rivals never passed on a chance to make the necessary reminders. ~ Tom Clancy

She's not into you, Tom. She doesn't love you. You can't force someone to love you by doing them favors. ~ A.O. Monk

Every day the sun will rise and you never know what the tide will bring in.
-Tom Hanks, in the movie 'Castaway'. ~ William Broyles Jr.

Tom Brady was suspended 4 games for hiding evidence. Hillary should have to sit out first 4 primaries. ~ Jim Gilmore

Sometimes it still seems unreal just to board a plane and fly to America, because that's something that I'd always dreamed of, but I was completely sure would never happen, and sometimes, when I think about that, it still feels a bit unreal. ~ Tom Wlaschiha

I love the band Haim. I would love to do something with them. ~ Tom Odell

The race will go to the curious, the slightly mad, and those with an un-satiated passion for learning and dare-deviltry. ~ Tom Peters

Running down a dream ... working on a mystery ... going wherever it leads ... ~ Tom Petty

Life would be better if the Leafs would make the playoffs. Life would be perfect if they'd win the Stanley Cup. ~ Tom Earle

Read, listen to and watch everything you can. Explore the corners of popular culture and the arts. And, of course, these days you have to stay maniacally plugged in to the cutting edge of whatever technology is taking your profession into the future - otherwise you're toast. ~ Tom Freston

Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That's really where failure comes. ~ Tom Cochrane

I think we all share the same goal, which is a United States of America that inspires people and leads. ~ Tom Vilsack

Sure that there was an attainable bliss somewhere beyond the decimal point in the p of his sexual trysts, I felt that maybe he had already attained what I was looking for, a more instinctual regard for sex, an equality among thirsts. He had done what I wanted to do: washed the wound of appetite in a relentless waterfall of sweat and semen. ~ Tom Cardamone

The causes we know everything about depend on causes we know very little about which depend upon causes we know absolutely nothing about. ~ Tom Stoppard

I proudly tell people, 'I have no computer,' so as not to be ashamed of having no computer. ~ Tom Stoppard

McCue: Now, Mrs. Margolies, this is Mr. McCue of the City News Bureau - City News Bureau - is it rue, Madame that you were the victim of a peeping tom?
Kruger: Ask her if she's worth peeping at?
Wilson: Has she got a friend? ~ Ben Hecht

I've interviewed presidents and royalty, rock stars and movie stars, famous generals and captains of industry; I've had front row seats at Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympic Games; my books have been on best-seller lists, and my marriage is a long-running success. ~ Tom Brokaw

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. ~ Tom Clancy

The three wolves didn't know that the sheep herd had three dogs in it. Big ones. ~ Tom Clancy

Successful visionaries start from where they are, what they have, and what their customers have. ~ Tom Gilb

What is grace? I'm not certain; all I know is that my heart felt like a spike, and then, in that room, it opened and felt like an umbrella. ~ Tom Junod

A writer needs a life of introspection. ~ Tom Robbins

Whether I'm unduly sensitive to this pain because I'm a princess - could the whole world be the pea under my mattress? - I don't know, but because I'm a princess, I might be able to do something to help lessen humanity's pain. ~ Tom Robbins

To specialize is to brush one tooth. When a person specializes he channels all of his energies through one narrow conduit; he knows one thing extremely well and is ignorant of almost everything else. ~ Tom Robbins

You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you. ~ Tom Ford

Success in life is to maintain this ecstasy, to burn always with this hard gemlike flame. ~ Tom Stoppard

Or a White Englishman would rather smash a White Frenchman than a Jew! Crazy! ~ Tom Metzger

With me, something different and deep, in bright focus and pointing the way, arrived in the practice of hitchhiking. I am the spirit and the heart of hitchhiking, I am its cortex and its medulla, I am its foundation and its culmination, I am the jewel in its lotus. ~ Tom Robbins

ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF D-Day, I was broadcasting from the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy, one of the bloodiest battlefields in American history. The cemetery is at once haunting and beautiful, with 9,386 white marble headstones in long, even lines across the manicured fields of dark green, each headstone marking the death of a brave young American. The anniversary was a somber and celebratory ~ Tom Brokaw

What a house. Turns out they're doing OK, the Malfoy's. However, the interior decorating leaves a lot to be desired. And needless to say, Voldemort isn't the greatest houseguest. ~ Tom Felton

Living with kids is like living with a bunch of drunks. You know you really have to be on your toes all the time. Things are falling over and breaking and spilling. If you live on the second story, you really have to keep the windows shut all the time. ~ Tom Waits