"Heaven for the climate, hell for the company"

[Garson O'Toole]

There are versions of this in 1884 and 1885.  Ben Wade is credited in
1885 with "I think, from all I can learn, that heaven has the better
climate, but hell has the better company."
Garson

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "Heaven for the climate, hell for the company"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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