Yale Book of . . .

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

I'm trying to find the origin of:

"Never attempt to teach a pig to sing;  it wastes your time and annoys
the pig."

I think it originates with Robert Heinlein in _Time Enough for Love_
1973. (Oddly enough, it appears in the text of the novel, rather than in
the two groups of sayings collected as "intermissions" in the book, and
later published as _The Notebooks of Lazarus Long_.)

But I've seen it attributed to Mark Twain as well as Paul Dickson.  I
can't find it in any of the Project Gutenberg Twain, or in any other
Twain source.  And I can't find it in any of authoritative lists of
Twain quotes.  But likewise, I can't find it in any of the lists of
quotes that are misattributed to Twain.  Heinlein grew up in Twain
country (Missouri), was a fan of Twain's (put him in at least one of his
books as a character), and it's entirely possible that he borrowed the
expression, or made up a variant of it.

Can anyone send me Paul Dickson's email address to ask him outright?

Bill Mullins

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