There's not much most of us don't already know about Mark Twain, "the father of American literature". I've read many of his books, and some of his short stories.
I did manage to dredge up one thing I didn't know: he pretty much predicted the timing of his own death, and/or defied the adage "If only wishes made it so". According to the Wiki, "...in 1909, Twain is quoted as saying: 'I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.' His prediction was accurate – Twain died of a heart attack in 1910, one day after the comet's closest approach to Earth."
To close, two Mark Twain quotes:
"The lack of money is the root of all evil."
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
I particularly like that last one.
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I'm loving your author series.
ReplyDeleteThere was an item on the radio about Mark Twain's autobiography which he said could not be published until 100 years after his death so they are editing it now (its thousands of pages long). So more Twain to read, eventually, Hurray.
Loved the last quote! And I think the autobiography is going to come out this fall. It was more than 5,000 pages as written! Apparently Twain had an affair later in life and then had a falling out with the woman, who gets quite a rant in the book. Now that's something I certainly didn't know about!
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