It is Twainesque, at any rate; I hope he said it, perhaps after one of his readings of Carlyle's "The French Revolution" - B. Clay Shannon

      From: Steve Hoffman <[log in to unmask]>
 To: [log in to unmask] 
 Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 8:36 PM
 Subject: Re: Citing a source...
   
Your line questioning whether the ends justifying 
the memes -- THAT itself is quote-worthy ;-)

-Steve Hoffman
Takoma Park MD

On 12/27/2016 11:03 PM, AB E wrote:
> I saw this meme on Twitter: an image of old Twain with this quote: "When
> the rich rob the poor it's called business. When the poor fight back it's
> called violence--Mark Twain."
>
> I retweeted it, but then followed it by saying "Though I'll add there's no
> proof he said it." My reasoning for this was that I did not see it on
> twainquotes.com, as a verifiable resource.
>
> The originator of the meme said it was verified, and the source was the
> very same twainquotes.com.
>
> My eyes and search engine fail me. It's not under rich, poor, business, or
> violence. So here are my questions:
>
> 1) Did Twain say it?
> 2) Is it on twainquotes?
> 3) Am I a poor digital scholar, or does this guy's ends justify his memes?
>
> We live in an age of opinion and not fact, and there is plenty of Twain to
> quote on anti-imperialism, but I dispute the assertion of validity to
> support any faction's cause if unverified. It's lazy.
>
> Just curious.
>