MT just appeared to me--was reading over my shoulder all along, it seems--and said: "You know, I have enough trouble with the genuine article, but getting the counterfeits right is damnably hard." 
Then he squinted. "What's a graduate student?"...



-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Ballard <[log in to unmask]>
To: TWAIN-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Aug 20, 2012 7:06 pm
Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation?


There's enough of these to fill a book. We could call it "Reports of my
quotes are greatly exaggerated."

On Monday, August 20, 2012, Paul Schullery wrote:

> Some Mark Twain Forum member who has charge of a few sharp and
> enterprising graduate students ought to turn one of them loose on a study
> of these bogus and dubious "Mark Twain quotes." Even a light content
> analysis would be revealing of how we have defined and shaped our idea of
> Mark Twain and his wisdom through these fictionalized representations. And
> I imagine that the creation of phony Twainisms has probably accelerated
> wildly since the popularization of the web.
>
> Judging from the number of us who have responded to this question about
> these alleged quotations, it appears that there is a healthy amount of
> curiosity about what he did and did not say; a good study of this subject,
> even a small book, would perform a real service.
>
> I was recently given a refrigerator magnet, which I was told was sold at
> the Mark Twain House in Hartford. The magnet featured a supposed Mark
> Twain quotation, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." I must admit, this
> sounds spurious to me. I didn't know that "denial" in its modern pop-psych
> meaning was all that common 100 years ago. But that is why the whole issue
> needs study; how are we to know if a quotation is real or not?
>
> Paul Schullery
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>>
> Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>>
> Date: Monday, August 20, 2012 12:36 PM
> To: <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>>
> Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation?
>
> Terry,
>
>
> Oscar Wilde died too soon; he owes you one.
>
>
> Well said, and happy retirement!
>
>
> Ben
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terry Ballard" <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>>
> To: [log in to unmask] <javascript:;>
> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 1:48:50 PM
> Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation?
>
> 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."
>


-- 


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."