[Ads-l] Groucho--really?

GEOFFREY NUNBERG nunbergg at GMAIL.COM
Fri Mar 10 17:39:19 UTC 2017


The following quotation is widely ascribed to Groucho Marx:

> I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

I suppose it’s not impossible that Groucho said such a thing in his sad dotage, but the tenor is awfully un-Marxian. Can anybody help to trace the actual source of the quote—or what’s really more interesting (if I’m right), its first misattribution?

Geoff

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