"Heaven for the climate, hell for the company"

[Joel S. Berson]

Having seen this recently via Alex Beam (Boston Globe), having liked
the notion of the "company" ever since Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell", I
decided to see who has said this.  In the first 30 Ghits, I find
Dante, Machievelli, William Blake, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, and
Mom credited.

Both Beam and the ever-reliable YBQ say Twain, the latter finding it
in Notebook, 1889--1890 and the former quoting it accurately.

But I do not find quite this characterization in Don Juan's
disquisition in response to Ana's "But if Hell be so beautiful as
this, how glorious must heaven be!"  (The Devil relinquishes his
defence of the Lower Place to Juan's eloquence.)

Joel

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