The Apocryphal Twain: “It is easier to con a man than to convince him he has been conned.”
Viral apocrypha associated with January 6 hearings.
There is perhaps no greater testament to Twain’s lasting reputation than the habitual misattribution of miscellaneous wit and wisdom to his name. The circulation of such apocryphal aphorisms was common enough in the 20th century. It has only increased with the popularization of digital media. The most common question addressed to the Center for Mark Twain Studies is some variety of “Did he really say that?” Whenever possible, we track down the original source, as well as attempt to trace how their words came to be imagined in Twain’s mouth.
Viral apocrypha associated with January 6 hearings.
The search for the origin of this popular aphorism run through Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Bear” Bryant, and the B&O railroad!?!
Is Mark Twain really responsible for this aphorism about curiously unhinged Californians?
Mark Twain may have made writing look easy, but he didn’t think it actually was.
A new installment of Matt Seybold’s “Apocryphal Twain” series focuses on an aphorism often attribued to Mark Twain and George Carlin, but with actual orgins in midcentury cinema.
An anti-democratic dismissal circulates during election season, falsely attributed to Mark Twain. Where did it actually come from?
This commonly misattributed aphorism has its origins in memoirs, Westerns, and the Peace Corps.
Ron Chernow ended his White House Correspondents Dinner speech with a quote by Mark Twain. Cool, cool. It’s a solid formula. We just wish he’d quoted something Twain actually said.
There is perhaps no greater testament to Twain’s lasting reputation than the habitual misattribution of miscellaneous wit and wisdom to his name. The circulation of such apocryphal aphorisms was common enough in the 20th century. It has only increased with the popularization of digital media. The most common question addressed to the Center for Mark Twain Studies is some variety of “Did he really say that?” Whenever possible, we track […]
Mark Twain is frequently treated as a precursor to the New Journalists who rose to prominence in midcentury America, writers like Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe, who died yesterday. Like many of them, Twain began his career as a conventional reporter (insofar as there was any such convention in the 1860s) and developed a habit of inserting himself into his stories, so much so that […]