john sitter wrote: > Dear Twainians, > > I'm trying to remember where I read a joke--well, a humorous story, > anyway--so that I can quote and cite it properly. > > It's a variation on the world-as-vale-of-tears theme, and the general > situation is that a preacher (rabbi? somebody's grandfather?) is > declaiming something like so: "Oh, what a world of woe. Happiness is > uncertain, misery certain. Lucky is he who passes from it quickly. > Luckiest of all not to be born at all. But to whom is such good fortune > granted? --Scarcely one in a thousand." > > A lugubrious enough joke, but, with that careful attempt at accuracy, > one of my favorite punchlines. Is it from somewhere in Twain? > > With thanks for any help, > John Sitter > I know it as an old Yiddish/Jewish joke. I'm sure Leo Rosten quotes it somewhere in Joys of Yiddish. George Robinson