Along the "moderation in moderation" line, a friend
of mine recently posted on Facebook a quote
attributed to MT.
 
I was unfamiliar with it, and would love to know its
source, or even if it's authentic:
 
"The two most important days of your life are the
day you were born and the day you find out why."
 
I'm a little skeptical of his having said or written it.
Anyone know the facts?  Thanks.
 
Roger Durrett
Charlotte, NC 
 
 
In a message dated 8/20/2012 2:11:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I used  to say "Moderation is a good thing as long as you don't take it  to
extremes." Sadly as far as I can tell, Twain didn't say the one  about
moderation in moderation. When checking out one of these, I usually  go to
Google Books and search ending in 1920. True that he said some gems  in
speeches that may not have made it to print in his lifetime, but a zero  hit
count is pretty telling. Unless it turns up in a speech, this goes to  that
mountainous scrap heap of things that sound like Twain but  aren't.

Also, in case anyone out there is following my adventures, as  of the 31st
I'm removing lines 2-5 on my sig file below, to be replaced  with "Retired
Librarian."


Terry Ballard
Assistant Director of  Technical Services for Library Systems
The New York Law School
185 West  Broadway, New York, NY,  10013
212-431-2106
http://www.terryballard.org
Author of the book  "Google this" http://googlethisforlibraries.com

"My memory has a mind  of its own."