The Forgiving Violet

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

Mark Twain

“Violets are one of the cheeriest little flowers to grace the landscape” begins an article by Gardening Know How titled the “Varieties Of Violets: Different Types Of Violets .” Cultivated since at least 500 B.C., “there are about 400 types of violent plants in the genus Viola.” And, just because it’s Fall in the Northern Hemisphere, that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the beauty of flowers year round. “Who’s a good violet? You are, you cute little dog violet you!” (Me, looking at pictures of violets).

About the author

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced”, and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature”. His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter of which has often been called the “Great American Novel”. Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) and Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.