Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Twain points out the self-referential paradox of claiming all generalizations are false.
In plain terms
This statement undermines itself by being a generalization.
What can you take from it?
Recognize logical contradictions in absolute claims.

Where it applies

  • philosophy
  • debate
  • critical thinking

Putting it to work

  • avoid absolute statements
  • check for contradictions

Questions to consider

  • Can you find other self-defeating statements?

Another view

The quote is meant humorously and not as strict logic.

More from Mark Twain

  1. Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

    Permalink to quote #166
  2. France is miserable because it is filled with Frenchmen, and Frenchmen are miserable because they live in France.

    Permalink to quote #168
  3. America is built on a tilt and everything loose slides to California.

    Permalink to quote #165

Related quotes

  1. Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.

    F. H. BradleyF. H. Bradley quote #2
  2. Eclecticism. Every truth is so true that any truth must be false.

    F. H. BradleyF. H. Bradley quote #3
  3. Our argument is not flatly circular, but something like it. It has the form, figuratively speaking, of a closed curve in space.

    Willard van Orman QuineWillard van Orman Quine quote #6