Was it Twain?

March 8th, 2009 Thea Posted in Misc | 4 Comments »

Those of you who know me well know that I have a little bit of a Mark Twain problem affinity. I’m down to 2.5 bookshelves, though, and only read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court once a year these days.

However, if anyone can help me find really good citations for these quotes, I’ll be grateful. My Googling tells me they’re Twain, but I need something firmer. There’s a tattoo I’m hoping to refresh and augment, and I’m not taking any chances on the quote.

  • Sing like no one’s listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching, and live like its heaven on earth.
  • Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.

Any thoughts? I’m not above pestering a rockstar research librarian I knew at Oberlin, but thought I’d start closer to home.

There’s a Snuggie in it for the first person who provides proof!

Bonus points if you can identify the Twain-realated joke in title.

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4 Responses to “Was it Twain?”

  1. John Salzberg Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 12:21 am

    First quote attribution does not sound like Twain or anything from his era, when men were men and not saps. :) Source on a wiki page links it more closely to a 1989 country music song by Susanna Clark.

    http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Mark_Twain

    This link attributes the lyrics to Susanna Clark rather than Clemens.

    http://websterpacific.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/the-winner-within/

    —

    Second quote seems to be attributed to Mark Twain in “A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine. Check chapter 290

    http://www.twainquotes.com/Humor.html
    http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/twain/mark/paine/chapter290.html

  2. KMango Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Too late for the all-loving Snuggie, but is the title a reference to “Which Was It”?

    Or is it a perhaps a reference to “Twain”, meaning two, since you were calling out two quotes?

    Or something else entirely…

  3. Thea Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    KMango: You are totally right about the title! I’m going to try to think of an appropriate prize. Will e-mail you directly.

    http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/wihoh.html

    And John: Thanks for the quick research! There is a Snuggie in your future. And you’re right – waaay too schmaltzy for Twain.

  4. Josh K-sky Says:
    March 15th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    Inspirational author William W. Purkey claims that he closed speeches with the line for years before Susanna Clark set it to music:

    http://manchester-blog.com/dance-like-nobodys-watching/

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