5/10/2023 0 Comments Just one damned thing![]() (Sometimes it’s a Churchillism, but let’s not muddy the waters.) But did good old Mark Twain ever say it? The famous American writer is often credited with similar quotes, including: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics ” “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco ” and “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” If it’s short, humorous, and has an implied observation about life, it’s a Twain-ism. Such things, if they’re not Shakespearean in language or tone, are almost always attributed to Mark Twain. The basic idea, that life can be boiled down and summarized in one phrase that is so obvious and observant, is too pithy not to love (and to employ whenever it’s needed). ![]() Or at least they come up with it over a couple of decades, and, in terms of the history of quotations, that’s the story of the aphorism and witticism, “life is just one damn thing after another.” But it’s easier to attribute such a quotation to Mark Twain, and that’s what people have done. And a whole bunch of writers, pundits, journalists, and aphorists come up with roughly the same idea at roughly the same time. ![]() There’s a meteor shower and a rainbow on the same day. Sometimes, Buzzkillers, the stars just seem to align. ![]()
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