"everyday is humbling experience when you truly realize how little we know and how insignificant we really are..."

That is how I feel when I watch an eclipse or a comet or a falling star.

Mark Twain

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear."

Samuel Clemens, more commonly known as Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on Nov. 30, 1835. He held many different jobs during his lifetime. Among them, a reporter, a publisher, and a riverboat pilot. In 1862 Sam began writing for many magazines and newspapers under the pen name of Mark Twain, a name taken from a riverboat term. Twain was a great writer, his three best books were Roughing It, The adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His books sold many copies. One of his books, A Tramp Abroad sold 25,000 copies. The year he was born, Halley's Comet passed over. Twain vowed that he would not die until he saw the famous comet. Then, just before he died Halley's Comet passed over. He died the next day; April 21st, 1910, at 6:30 p.m. Mark Twain stopped breathing. (He often said "I came into this world with the comet and I will go out with the comet, and true to his word, the day after Halley's Comet passed over again in 1910, he died)

Mark Twain was great even during his lifetime. He had many jobs that gave him a good education and varied experiences with many kinds of people. Something else that helped him achieve greatness in the world was that he was determined. He set goals to write his books and set many goals to write magazine articles, newspaper articles and other types of articles. A third thing that helped him achieve greatness was that he had perseverance. That quality helped him write books because he kept on trying to think of varied ways to write his stories and articles. Finally, Mark Twain learned from his experiences. He learned early on that his readers liked different writing styles. He didn't disappoint them when he wrote his humor, satire, and adventure. If his books got bad ratings, he would know not to try something different. Some of his characteristics were integrity, sense-of-humor, and initiative. Mark Twain's personality was funny, out-going, and cooperative. His humorous and insightful remarks were often quoted around the world, both then and now. Mark Twain will be remembered and quoted for a long time.