Mark Twain vs. Ai Weiwei
Read 20 entries attributed to Mark Twain alongside 20 attributed to Ai Weiwei. Compare the wording and topic labels.
This page places 20 entries attributed to Mark Twain alongside 20 attributed to Ai Weiwei. Each selection is ordered by stored importance score. These are selections from QuoteLineage, not complete accounts of either author's work.
Topic labels present in both displayed selections: human nature, humor, life. Shared labels do not by themselves demonstrate agreement, disagreement, or influence between the authors.
Attributed to Mark Twain, entry #145: "I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature, but I never saw a policeman interfere in the matter and I…"
Attributed to Ai Weiwei, entry #238267: "I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your life in fear. It is worse…"
Side-by-Side Comparison
Mark Twain
1835 – 1910
Mark Twain (1835) was an American writer and humorist, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
"I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature, but I never saw a policeman interfe…"
#Ethics"Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington", The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul"
#Aesthetics"Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough."
#Aesthetics"Tomorrow night I appear for the first time before a Boston audience"
#Human Nature"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."
#Aesthetics"When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain."
#love"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."
#love"Ah, it was worth ten years of a man’s life to be dead then! Everything was pleasant. I was in a good neighbourhood, for all the dead people that lived near m…"
#Ethics"He was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie."
#Aesthetics"He is now fast rising from affluence to poverty."
#Aesthetics"I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."
#Aesthetics"The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it."
#humor"There warn't anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn't any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because …"
#time"Surely the test of a novel's characters is that you feel a strong interest in them and their affairs—the good to be successful, the bad to suffer failure. We…"
#success": "A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."
#humor"No accident ever comes late; it always arrives precisely on time."
#time"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
#books"Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed."
#ethics"None but an ass pays a compliment and asks a favor at the same time. There are many asses."
#time"I have not read Nietzsche or Ibsen, nor any other philosopher, and have not needed to do it, and have not desired to do it; I have gone to the fountain-head …"
#lifeAi Weiwei
1957
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese government and its stance on democracy and human rights.
"I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your lif…"
#freedom"Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what’s on his mind. A fairy tale has come true."
#truth"The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater th…"
#Human Nature"Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I…"
#money"The 2008 Olympics has created an illusion of China to the public and to the outside world. It is so fantastic, so unreal, that the entire meaning of the game…"
#philosophy"The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that."
#freedom"Contemporary art and the Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix."
#art"Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore.…"
#friendship"Anyone who cares about truth should avoid not politics, but Olympic lies."
#truth"People have said, if you leave, you may never come back. Or they may not even let you leave. So this is always a cost you may have to pay. But I don’t want t…"
#art"To me, to be political means you associate your work with a larger number of people’s living conditions, and that includes both mental and physical condition…"
#life"The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay."
#art"I lost all connection with the outside world and was immersed in a world of darkness. I was scared that my existence would fade silently. No one knew where I…"
#philosophy"When I returned to China , I didn’t have a U.S. passport, a wife, or a university degree. From the Chinese point of view, I was a total failure."
#family"Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources."
#Human Nature"Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don’t have to obey their own laws."
#justice"Tradition is only a readymade. It’s for us to make a new gesture—to use it as a reference, more as a starting point than conclusion. Of course, there are ver…"
#art"It’s hard to recover. You become not so innocent. You become, in a way, more sophisticated, which I think you shouldn’t. We should all have more simple happi…"
#happiness"Chairman Mao was the first in the world to use Twitter. All his quotations are within 140 words."
#humor"I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art."
#life