Mark Twain strikes again

Thu Dec 13 03:59:31 UTC 2012

LH wrote:
> "The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else
> up"--attributed to Mark Twain on "Private Practice" (ABC-TV),
> but I suspect inaccurately, given his notorious quote-magnetism.

It is a close match to a quote in Twain's canon. The quote was
published in Albert Bigelow Paine's edition of Twain's Notebook in
1935. (I do not know if more recent scholars have found its precise
location in his multiple notebooks.)

[ref] 1935, "Mark Twain's Notebook" by Mark Twain edited by Albert
Bigelow Paine, Page 310, Harper & Brothers, New York. (Verified with
scans)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer somebody else up.
[End excerpt]

TV is tricky. Occasionally something almost true emerges from the box.

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