Okay, since you've brought up the earliest usage of "mind over matter," I'll ask a related question that's been irking me a little about that spuriously attributed quotation: when did the expression "[it]...doesn't matter" first come into use? Did Twain ever use that particular construction? It doesn't sound Twain-like to my ears. It sounds to me to be a more recent version of the older construction, "[it's] of no matter", essentially turning the noun "matter" (substance) into a verb, "to matter" (to be of substance). Anyone know when that usage first appeared, and whether Twain ever used it? Ben Wise ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kit Barry" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 11:33:19 PM Subject: Age & mind over matter source ? Forum - "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't = matter." The phrase "mind over matter" goes back at least to 1863 used by an = English lawyer and geologist. (The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man by Sir Charles Lyell ) = * It could be possible that it was later paraprosdokianized by ? Oscar = Wilde ? Kit Barry The Ephemera Archive for American Studies * Wikipedia=