Dear Sara, The next best thing to the right answer is the right person. In all things "Twain Quotable" refer to R Kent Rasmussen. Simply address your letter to the Forum, speaking thusly: "Hey, Kent, are you listening? Did Twain really say...." He'll know. Rick Talbot In Minnesota ps See you all in Elmira this summer. PSS My "best guess" is that your quote is related to "I was born modest, but it wore off." Let's see what the group thinks.... A little web research reveals the following (and, as always, a doff of the cap goes out to R Kent Rasmussen who is hiding out in the western United States): see http://www.twainweb.net/reviews/qmt-rev.html