I concur that this one gets a 10 on the bogus meter. Some hits for that in
Google Books, but they're all in the internet age. Someday I'm going to
write a book called "Talking about the weather: The greatest things that
Mark Twain never Said."
On Saturday, February 9, 2013, John Bird wrote:
> A friend of mine posted this quotation on Facebook the other day: =
> =E2=80=9CIf it=E2=80=99s your job to eat a frog, it=E2=80=99s best to do =
> it the first thing in the morning. And if it=E2=80=99s your job to eat =
> two frogs, it=E2=80=99s best to eat the biggest one first.=E2=80=9D This =
> was attributed, of course, to Mark Twain. I wrote him back that I had =
> never seen this one anywhere in Twain=E2=80=99s works, which =
> didn=E2=80=99t prove much, but that it didn=E2=80=99t sound like him to =
> me. I told him I would do a search and try to find out its provenance =
> (today=E2=80=99s word of the day du jour!).=20
>
> I could not find it at www.twainquotes. A Google search, though, gave me =
> hundreds of hits: blogs, Pinterest, quote sites, etc., all with the same =
> quote, all attributing it to Twain, but not one of them giving a source =
> in his writing. All roads seemed to lead to a book by Brian Tracy, Eat =
> That Frog!, which is a short book of advice on avoiding procrastination, =
> very popular with writers, self-help folks, business advice, etc.
>
> I have a time-wasting hobby (good to employ when I am procrastinating) =
> of tracking down spurious Mark Twain quotations. I was surprised I had =
> not encountered this one, since it is so widespread. So I call on the =
> collective wisdom here to tell me if it is indeed from Mr. Mark =
> Twain,and if so, where. I will be so surprised if it is that I will eat =
> a live frog, in front of witnesses.=20
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> John Bird
> [log in to unmask] <javascript:;>
>
--
Terry Ballard
Author and Leisure Studies Manager
http://www.terryballard.org
Author of the book "Google this" http://googlethisforlibraries.com
"My memory has a mind of its own."
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