While Twain’s career as a writer enriched him, his turn as a gentleman investor did much to impoverish him. He lost a great deal of his writing profits and much of his wife’s inheritance on different investments, the costliest was his backing of a promising typesetting machine. The machine had great potential but it failed in the market due to frequent breakdowns. Twain recovered financially with the help of a benefactor from Standard Oil, Henry Huttleson Rogers. Rogers guided Twain successfully through bankruptcy and even had Twain transfer his copyrights to his wife to keep his royalties from his creditors. Further success from book sales and lectures restored his financial health and in the end all his creditors were paid.
Mark Twain is also well remembered for his witty quotations, a small sampling follows:
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.
It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you: the one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.
