30 Comments Add your own

• 1. Amanda Podesta  |  December 24th, 2010 at 6:35 pm

  I love Mark Twain. If I had to choose a literary mind to represent America, I’d champion Clemens to face off against England’s Charles Dickens, France’s Victor Hugo, and Russia’s Leo Tolstoy any day.

  In fact, here’s a tongue-in-cheek Mark Twain quote whose subject may have inspired Carr’s no whining policy:

  The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad. I speak now, of course, in the supposition that the gentle reader has not been abroad, and therefore is not already a consummate ass. If the case be otherwise, I beg his pardon and extend to him the cordial hand of fellowship and call him brother.

• 2. Chris Carr  |  December 24th, 2010 at 7:48 pm

  Amen. - Professor Carr

• 3. Katie Moeller  |  January 11th, 2011 at 8:59 pm

  What I take away from the Mark Twain quote as it applies to our China trip is that we need to be open to a new experience. Learn from the journey and enjoy it. It is a one-time experience that will provide many new perspectives. Don’t let this one journey – whether good or bad - be the end. Keep on learning. Visit China again – the experience will be different. If China is not your “cup of tea,” be willing to visit other countries to continually challenge and expand your horizon.

• 4. Dan N  |  January 13th, 2011 at 9:42 am

  I think Katie hits on the two most important relationships between this quote and our experience for me. The China we will experience is not an acceptable surrogate for the rest of the world outside of the U.S. nor is it even an acceptable surrogate for the rest of China itself. We will “know” China after visiting these three cities about as well as a Chinese tourist would “know” America after spending a few days in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York in mid-June.

  Think about all of the things they would miss out on! They would miss out on a day in the life of a farmer from Nebraska, a park ranger in Montana, or a college student in San Luis Obispo. They wouldn’t experience a 4th of July parade, a christmas morning, or a thanksgiving dinner with family. They wouldn’t experience a tailgate party on a crisp fall day at a Big 10 football game. They wouldn’t experience a high school prom, a day at the beach, or an American wedding…

  Furthermore, I think that the diversity of America pales in comparison to China because the approx. 56 ethnic groups speak at least 6 different languages. American culture is homogenized by our common language.

  During the time that I lived in San Francisco, I learned that one can spend a lifetime in “the City” and not discover everything about it that makes it unique. I laugh at the thought of a Chinese tourist spending a few days there, visiting Pier 39, Union Square, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and leaving claiming to “know” America. They haven’t even scratched the surface of the city let alone America.

  I think that Mark Twain’s quote reminds us that we’re all susceptible to making the mistake of inferring universal truths about a person, place, or thing, based on our limited exposure to the subject and the slanted perspective that we carry with us.

• 5. David Hart  |  January 15th, 2011 at 12:53 pm

  I think the above quote reminds us of the importance of remaining open minded. For example, if we have one negative or difficult experience, we need to be careful to not let our perceptions of that experience close off future opportunities.

  One of my favorite Mark Twain quote is as follows:
  “I have seen several entirely sincere people who thought they were permanent seekers after Truth. They sought diligently, cautiously, profoundly, with perfect honesty–until they believed, without doubt or question, they had found the Truth. That was the end of their search. They spent the rest of their lives hunting up roof shingles, to protect their Truth from the changing weather. From that day forth, with a soldering iron in one hand, and a bludgeon in the other, they tinkered its leaks, and reasoned with objectors.”

  A lot of times we form our opinions and are not open to changing them. Perhaps some have a particular view of China, for example. It is important for us to always stay open minded about China. If we do so, we will be open to learn while we are there.

  Also, we need to be careful after we come back that we remain open minded and continue to expand our perspectives on China. It is important to never end our search. We can continue to learn and expand our worldview and have new experiences.

• 6. Jessie Wilkie  |  January 17th, 2011 at 9:13 pm

  The China trip will probably be hot or cold to me. I might just like it or not like it. But either way this doesn’t mean that I should assume that I’d like all of China or not like all of China just because of this one experience. With that said, I feel like the quote just emphasizes the unpredictability of life. This quote inspired me to look up some more quotes about travel. Here are a few of my favorites that I found:

  “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

  “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

  “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

  Sailing round the world in a dirty gondola oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!
  Bob Dylan

  I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
  Oscar Wilde

• 7. Chris Bruns  |  January 21st, 2011 at 5:59 pm

  I think that the China trip is something that I will jump into with a closed mouth and open ears and mind. I have been trying to bury past experiences in other countries, cliches and rumors of what I have heard, and preconceived notions about how China should or would be. I want to travel there, and use double loop learning to understand the ‘why’ of what I will see and experience there .

  Per previous posts, I thought I’d throw a quote in the hat:

  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

• 8. Cassie Bettencourt  |  January 31st, 2011 at 7:53 pm

  Mark Twain always has something amusing to say and I am a big fan. As mentioned in the above blog posts, the main point of this particular quote is to keep learning. It is important not to generalize any negative aspects of China or our China experience to a final opinion on all of China or the China trip. Projecting a particular experience onto other experiences that aren’t relevant can be detrimental to learning. An open mind is critical to getting the most out of this travel opportunity.

  Mark Twain also said:
  “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
  He’s got the right idea about travel, and I definitely agree with his advice on approaching and interpreting life.

• 9. Brady Haug  |  February 5th, 2011 at 1:58 pm

  Mark Twain is simply trying to say that we should learn from our experience and not judge harshly. We shouldn’t take a positive or negative aspect of the trip and apply it to the China or more broadly to other countries. As Katie mentioned in her comment, following this trip we should return to China, continue to learn, and continue to experience their culture. If you have a horrible time in Shenzhen (acting as the hot stove-lid) and decide to never come back, you may be missing out on other cities you may love (or cold lids). Following the trend of the previous posts, here is a great travel quote that I found:

  “All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

• 10. Robbin Forsyth  |  February 7th, 2011 at 9:13 pm

  Here is my take on Mr. Twain.
  Life is best experienced in the moment.
  It is possible to prejudice a future experience by trying to anticipate what will actually happen. As “A” type MBA students we might have a tendency be try and control the outcome of a given situation. While it can be good to visualize the outcome of a situation in which one desires high performance, (negotiation or sports) new cultural experiences must be absorbed with an open mind and heart.
  With that must come a willingness to experience failure, pain, embarrassment and other possible negative effects. Only by accepting these negatives as a small price to pay for the overall benefits of further new pursuits can a person grow in the long run.

• 11. Tim Easton  |  February 9th, 2011 at 7:50 pm

  This is another great quote from Mark Twain. I think Katie got the point spot on. We need to go into this trip with an open mind, and be willing to experience Chinese culture. Whether we have a good time or not we cannot let our visit to three cities shape our entire view on China. If you enjoyed the trip you should go back again, visit new places, and continue to learn. If you didn’t enjoy yourself, I believe that you should give it a second chance before you completely give up on traveling to China. If China is still not your place to travel, it is important to not give up on traveling completely. It is also important that everyone form their own opinions, and not be swayed by their peers. It is ok to disagree with your friends. Since everyone has been throwing in quotes I thought I would add one that I really like, “Tourists don’t know where they have been, travelers don’t know where they are going. Your trip begins, your trip ends, and you have only what happened in between to remember.” Paul Theroux

• 12. Sarah Weinzapfel  |  February 10th, 2011 at 6:12 pm

  Through this process I have continually tried to prepare myself to be open-minded and take our China trip for what it is. I know I need to be prepared to roll with the punches and be prepared for anything. If something goes wrong or the trip in general isn’t something I’ll choose to experience again on my own, I still need to realize the things that I can take away from the experience and be able to apply to other situations in my life. I’m not worried about a trip like this providing me with valuable takeaways for the future. We just need to enjoy the different experience and be open to ones similar even if this one has some bad characteristics.

  Regarding the previous post we were directed to, I think I need a little more experience than living student loan check to student loan check before I can really say whether my quality of life is more than equivalent to anyone else’s. I think qualities of life in different areas can potentially be just that: equivalent. Just like China, you might make less, but you spend less. It’s all relative to the area.

• 13. Randy Camat  |  February 11th, 2011 at 5:58 pm

  Mark Twain is trying to tell us to take experiences as merely experiences, not a generalization of what all experiences are going to be. In relating this to our China trip, whether it be good or bad, we shouldn’t overshadow what this trip brings us against future trips to China or even the Chinese culture. One particular change that might happen on this trip is looking at Chinese food differently once we come back; some – like the cat – may not try any Chinese food due to a bad experience. Mark Twain challenges us to not be the victimized cat and muster up the courage to test the “cold stove-lid.”

• 14. Will Moeller  |  February 19th, 2011 at 6:46 am

  Two points come to mind when reading the quality of life article. First, the initial paragraph reminds me of one of the great quotes from Fight Club, “the things you own end up owning you.” Second, many Americans do think they have it best here in America. However, Elliot Sweet, and Marquis Jacques would beg to differ. They might argue that there’s more economic freedoms to be had in China than anywhere else.

  As for Mr. Samuel Langhorn Clemens, he’s one of my favorites. However, I’ve never seen this quote before. Relating the quote to the China trip is interesting. I’d have to interpret it this way - The cat burns himself on the stove because he wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing. He ignored some of the subtleties he probably would have seen had he understood the situation before launching into it headlong. Next time, he’ll be more careful with the stove. Likewise, if we launch ourselves into the China experience blindly, we’re bound to get burned at some point. Keep an open-mind, proceed with caution, and reserve judgement.

  After all, we’re just a bunch of Innocents Abroad.

• 15. Jessica Shayler  |  February 19th, 2011 at 10:01 pm

  First, I’m just curious if cat’s in Clemens day were prone to stove-sitting? Seems a curious kitty pastime…

  To me, getting out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it means not reading into a situation. People in the US in general, but girls especially are notorious for asking “Well what does that mean?!?” Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe, to quote my husband, “It is what it is.” Enhancing your ability to, live in the moment (as Robbin says), experience it as it is, learn what it has to teach, and move on to the next moment without looking back will help improve your quality of life. Again, this seems like a mental exercise. I think China will be a great training ground for accepting people, food, culture, moments as is without trying to add or subtract anything from them.

• 16. Jason Jay Sharma  |  February 21st, 2011 at 1:37 am

  Mark Twain’s quote is very applicable to our MBA group’s trip to China, as well as to any person looking to expand business in or generally experience China. Twain’s quote, as applied to our trip, is telling us that our first visit to China will supply us with vital information about the country and business at the superficial level, but we will need to return to China on more than this one occasion to truly understand the all aspects. I’m sure after we return, many people in our group may appreciate our visit to China, but would never be willing to visit on their own again–this would be exactly what Twain speaks against. For those of you still not looking forward this amazing opportunity to go to China, know that everything you do in or preparing for China will be an experience, even your mistakes!

  “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” — Oscar Wilde

• 17. Kristine Spencer  |  February 26th, 2011 at 5:18 pm

  The biggest take away from this quote is that any bad experiences we might face in China, or any travels for that matter, do not reflect on the entirety of the country. On the other hand, if we experience only good things in China, that too does not reflect upon the possible dangers of doing business in China. It would be unwise to rule out any opportunities in China because of one bad experience. We have to be careful not to make any generalizations about such a vast and quickly evolving country. Sure, we are going to learn and see a lot on our trip, but we can’t take this short trip as gospel. I definitely hope to stay informed and in the know about China after our trip, mostly in an effort to increase my value added that we have talked about so much.

• 18. Tyler Sereno  |  March 1st, 2011 at 7:03 pm

  In his quote, I think Mark Twain meant that you can’t let one bad thing that happens to you while trying something new prevent you from experiencing the good parts. If you have a bad experience in China, you should not let that prevent you from going to China again. You will not have to have that bad experience again by not going back there, but by not going there, you could be missing out on something great. I would agree with Mark Twain’s advice. If you ran away from everything that did not go your way, you might miss out on some valuable life experiences. You must learn from your experiences. I plan to absorb everything and remain open to new culture when we go on our trip to China.

• 19. Ashley Ogden  |  March 2nd, 2011 at 9:51 am

  I think what Mark Twain meant by this, in relation to our China trip, is perhaps that we will better know ourselves after this trip. Maybe we can better understand what we like and what we don’t like. We will know more about the World after our trip and that is wisdom that will affect decisions we make for the rest of our lives. I believe that every experience in your life makes up a part of who you are and hopefully we every experience you learn something. So after this trip I expect to not be exactly the same person that I was when I left.
  “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist” –Mark Twain

• 20. Anthony Kallioinen  |  March 5th, 2011 at 9:45 am

  This quote is a folksy yet eloquent way of saying that we should not jump to conclusions about our experiences. Often times I hear someone categorize an experience they had when trying something new, and immediately form a conclusion by extrapolating that experience over the whole and assuming that it is the norm for everyone. They don’t seem to understand that they are only the center of their own equilibrium, not for the general human population; they will have an effect on the outcome of their experience. It is hard to extrapolate an experience and assume this good enough for it to be the last time one should test that assumption. The cat should be more analytical and test that stove-lid once more. It may find that there exists a happy medium that offers the cat the warmth that they always seem to crave.

• 21. j hurley  |  March 5th, 2011 at 10:25 am

  To me, Mark Twain’s quote reminds me to remain open minded. It is important to experience things first hand, and although you can use these experiences to base future decisions, don’t let them defer you from doing things again.
  This does apply to our trip to China. As unfamiliar travelers in the area, we need to remain open minded and never stop trying new things.

• 22. j hurley  |  March 5th, 2011 at 10:30 am

  Mark Twain’s quote tells me to remain open minded. When trying new experiences, learn from them and use them to help make future decisions. However, don’t let past experiences, if bad, destroy your chances of trying similar experiences again.
  This applies to China, and reminds us that as unfamiliar travelers, we need to remain open minded to the new experience and gather knowledge from them. We must use these experiences for future decisions, but don’t be overpowered by them.

• 23. Tara Millard  |  March 6th, 2011 at 2:12 pm

  This is a great quote by Mark Twain that perfectly sums up some key ideas behind our trip to China. Also, this quote aligns nicely with the statements Professor Carr made at the beginning of this post, namely “don’t jump to conclusions about anything you see in China.”

  Mark Twain is essentially saying take out of an experience what there is to be learned but don’t go beyond that. We will be in China for two weeks. While these two weeks will be eye-opening and informative we cannot expect to have an understanding of the culture and business world of China. We are going to be getting a glimpse of China, so we can only expect to understand a glimpse of China, and we should not see this trip as a tell-all experience.

  I believe this is a wise quote to live your life by. Take an experience for what it’s worth and learn from it what you can but be cautious not to infer further information that is essentially not there. Doing so will cause a misunderstanding of information and a lack of credibility on our part.

  Furthermore, I must comment on the quote posted by Jessie Wilkie, as I found it to be all-telling based upon my past experiences.
  •“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

  Too many people put so much pressure on themselves to have the perfect travel experience, whereas that is not where the true importance lies. In the future we will not recall being too hot, too cold, hungry, tired etc, but we will remember the essence of the trip and will be able to look back on the perspective we gained in a positive light. Essentially, don’t sweat the small stuff, take the trip for what its worth and nothing more.

• 24. Matt Streiter  |  March 6th, 2011 at 2:33 pm

  It is crazy how Mark Twain quotes are so applicable to so many different things. Anyway, I think the quote is saying to go in with an open mind and apply the knowledge we have in an open and educational way rather than a judgmental way. Second, don’t fish for information that isn’t there to reaffirm a previous thought. As we also learned in our negotiations class, people tend to fish out information that has a positive correlation to what they think or are trying to accomplish and push the rest of it under the rug. Furthermore, do not let a bad or unpleasant experience be a representation of the population as a whole. Often times we meet people that we don’t care for or experience events that we would rather of not but you can’t let that define all the other people or events that exist.

  Relating this to your “Quality of Life” blog, you can’t judge a nation based on figures that aren’t directly relatable to another nation. Looking at the figures, Chinese do make a fraction of U.S. workers but their expenses are also just a fraction of the U.S. workers. Stating that Chinese standards of living are much lower would be presumptuous by simply comparing income to income which is what is trying to be prevented in Twain’s quote.

• 25. Ben Raymond  |  March 10th, 2011 at 12:59 pm

  I think the concept behind the Mark Twain quote is one we should keep in mind when exploring China. The trip will present us with a lot of new knowledge and experiences and we need to absorb as much of that as possible. We also need to be careful not to draw conclusions from the experience that aren’t really there. We will be seeing some of the greatest cities in China, but no matter how much we take in we need to keep in mind that our experiences will not be representative of China as a whole. I’m sure we will all have both positive and negative experiences, but we need to take them with a grain of salt and maintain an open mind. Everyone is going to take away something different from the trip and have a different view of China afterward. China may be right for some and wrong for others, but we have to keep in mind that while it will be valuable, we are only seeing a fraction of what is happening there.

• 26. Kyle R.  |  March 12th, 2011 at 3:55 pm

  What I got out of Mark Twain’s quote it that we all need to experience China with a completely open mind, before forming opinions. This includes experiencing the culture, cuisine, history, business practices, policy and people in order to gain a deeper understanding of why China is the way it is today. Throughout the blog assignments, I have tried to keep an open mind when responding to various posts/articles from people who have actually been to China before. I don’t want to make assumptions now considering I have never visited China, let alone lived there. After returning from our trip, I think that I’ll have a better understanding of China, but still nothing compared to somebody who has worked or lived there.

• 27. J Vail  |  March 14th, 2011 at 12:27 pm

  I like this quote by Mark Twain and I’ve actually heard it before. Lesser known fact about Mark Twain; he lived his remaining years in the middle of nowhere in Redding, Connecticut – my home town. I think it’s also very fitting for this China trip. I’m sure that some people feel snake bit after an unsuccessful / unpleasant trip to China, but completely blocking yourself off to a type of experience will shoehorn you into others. I think that we have read plenty of other materials through these blogs that prove China as way too much to offer to ignore, even if the first time isn’t that great. Other posters threw out some other great Twain quotes, my personal favorite;
  “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

• 28. JP Salazar  |  March 17th, 2011 at 11:56 pm

  What I am talking away from this Mark Twain quote is two-fold. First, it is important to learn from our experiences. Like the cat, what we experience helps to shape how we see the world. Second, and more importantly, we can not rely on those experiences to always give us the whole truth. What we see and hear is only a part of the whole story.
  So how does this relate to our China trip? We are going to be exposed to sights, sounds and experiences that we have never seen before. It is important to be able to critically interpret what we see. But we also need to keep in mind that we are only skimming the surface of what China really is. It is important to not make assumptions about and entire region or culture based on the few experiences that we have there.
  That being said, I can’t wait to experience the sights and sounds that China has to offer. I am eager to take in as much as I can while I am there, but I will also be careful to not lump a group of people or an entire nation into my perception as a result of my trip.

• 29. Chris F.  |  March 18th, 2011 at 12:42 am

  My understanding on this Mark Twain quote is to not make generalities based off of one experience. This is especially true of China and our MBA trip as we will be only there for less than two weeks and therefore should not make generalities about all Chinese through our experiences. If you have a bad experience in China, then take it for what it is - an experience. However I would encourage you to “try again” and get a different perspective on another trip, say for example, if you took a tour-tour. I’ll try to keep my mind open about my travel experiences; I’ve had good experiences on my other international travels thus far, hope this is no different. If you just leave the bad experience to never try something again, you’ll be short changing yourself on the experiences of life.

  Stupid cat. (Don’t be like it.)

  As far as the quality of life, I’ll have a better opinion once I have experienced it firsthand and hear the perspectives of those who are actually living over there.

• 30. Omar Pradhan  |  March 18th, 2011 at 2:51 pm

  I think what is meant is that we should be weary of attempting to find meaning in something when there is no legitimate meaning to be found…lest we expose ourselves to mistaken causality. How might this apply to China? Perhaps in the sense that if we go into China with a certain set of expectations on how it is going to be (not fully open to experiencing it for what it really is) then we will miss out on the richness of each new experience (hot/cold stove) from one to the next (hot/cold stove); we must keep an open mind about how everything should make sense…and do our best to withhold definitive judgments until after we gather a statistically significant sample of data points. As to the re-read of the Quality of Life, the second time through I keyed in on what you said: “Having lived in high octane California for well over 20 years now, I never fully understood or appreciated this view until I gained more experience with and in China and the Chinese (see below discussion) and how they spend their money and live their lives.” From this and from thinking about the Twain quote, perhaps you are attempting to draw on the fact that it can happen to us all…i.e. we think we understand something for so long only to have it shown to us in a new light…and when that day comes, should we be ready to appreciate it in the new light…only then can we avail ourselves to the deeper meaning therein. I will do my absolute best to go into our journey with an open mind and maintain an open mind.

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