[Ads-l] apocryphal Twain

[Andy Bach]

Huh:

The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the
day you find out why. – The Apocryphal Twain

The Occam’s Razor of Twain attribution is, as follows: If the aphorism in
question indicates a sentimental, nostalgic, or otherwise optimistic
attitude towards humanity, it probably didn’t come from Twain. As Louis
Budd put is, Twain indulged a “lifelong suspicion that the mass of mankind
is venal, doltish, feckless, and tyrannical, that the damn fools make up a
majority anywhere.”

I've always taken the quote's "finding" to be about finding about how
babies are made. Never thought of a "self-help"/find your purpose sort of
meaning.

On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 11:45 AM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> Possibly of interest.
>
> http://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-the-two-
> most-important-days-of-your-life/
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org