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About this quote

What does it mean?
A person's opinions are shaped by their economic circumstances and source of livelihood.
In plain terms
Tell me how a man makes his living and I can tell you what he believes.
What can you take from it?
Economic status influences belief systems.

Where it applies

  • political analysis
  • social commentary
  • class studies

Putting it to work

  • analyze voter behavior
  • understand bias

Questions to consider

  • How much does money shape opinion?
  • Can beliefs exist apart from status?

Another view

It oversimplifies individual agency.

More from Mark Twain

  1. The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.

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  2. We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking. And out of it we get an aggregation which we consider a boon. Its name is public opinion. It is he…

    Permalink to quote #54
  3. Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.

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