Along the "moderation in moderation" line, a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a quote attributed to MT. I was unfamiliar with it, and would love to know its source, or even if it's authentic: "The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why." I'm a little skeptical of his having said or written it. Anyone know the facts? Thanks. Roger Durrett Charlotte, NC In a message dated 8/20/2012 2:11:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: 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."