The American writer is attributed to one of the most famous phrases related to the rejection of bad habit. We checked if he said that.
A witty statement, reflecting the complexity of the fight against addiction, was widely used many years ago and does not cease to be popular today. Aphorism, in which "hundreds" are often replaced by "thousands" and other numbers, the Twain brand attribute to resources such as "Kommersant", "Moscow 24", Rospotrebnadzor, biographical website About the American writer, magazine "Science and Life"as well as sites of all kinds of psychological dispensaries, hospitals And universities. This quote is popular and at West.
Moreover, his passion was not limited to one species-the writer loved both cigars and smoking the tube. Twen assertedthat he began to smoke at eight years, and immediately from 100 cigarettes per month. Years will pass, and this dose will increase many times. Among others Quote: “Food and sleep are the only things that need to be allowed to interrupt a person’s pleasure from his cigar” and “A lot of cigars is when you smoke two at once.”
The fact that Mark Twain tried to tie with a bad habit is also indisputable. When, in 1870, after the wedding, succumbing to his wife's persuasion, the writer tried to quit smoking cigars, then suddenly discoveredthat cannot work fully: “For three weeks I wrote six chapters. Then I abandoned the struggle [with smoking cigars], resumed my three hundred cigars [per month], burned the unfortunate six chapters and wrote a book in three months, not worried about the difficulties. Usually I smoke 15 cigars for five -hour works, and if my interest in work reaches higher enthusiasm, I smoke more. I smoke with all my might and do not allow intervals. ”
In his book "On Equator" Twain Writes Another attempt: “It worked more or less tolerably for some time. I promised myself that I would not leave, but I would smoke only one cigar per day. I put off this cigar for a while before bedtime, so that, smoking it, not to suffer from the desire of another. Every day and all day I waited for the moment when I am in charge of my cigar. Over time, I began to hunt large cigars. They all grew up and grew in size, and in a month my evening cigar grew to such proportions that it could be used instead of a cane! Then I decided that the restriction to one cigar per day makes no sense. ”
Special attention deserves and statement: “I quit smoking from time to time, once even for several months. But this was only for boasting to destroy those critics who claimed that I had become a slave to my habits and could not break the shackles. ”
However, all these statements only remotely resemble the famous phrase and do not contain the sarcastic zest with which it stands out. The reality is that in no lifetime edition of Mark Twain, as well as in his diaries or letters, there is no such quote.
For the first time, a joke of this format is found in literature in 1905 and has nothing to do with Mark Twain or smoking. It was used by the little -known writer Harris Dixon in his novel "Duke of carelessness":
“Noel,” he said, “I thought you quit poker.”
The duke smiled politely in response: "Yes, he threw more than a thousand times, every time the game was interrupted. Damn it, guy, to quit Poker is very simple."
In 1914, four years after the death of Mark Twain, his acquaintance Elizabeth Wallace quoted One of the letters allegedly sent to her by the writer. Twain’s statement here is not very similar to our phrase: “I was warned that I quit smoking, which I did for two to three days. But I was too lonely, and I started smoking again-in a new way, four times a day instead of 40. It will have a good effect. At the bank account. "
In 1932, Norfolk and Western Magazine appeared in the railway magazine joke, very reminiscent of modern: “Dispatcher S. W. Campbell claims to quit smoking. Stuart says: "To quit smoking is easy; I threw at least a hundred times."
Further, a witty remark, still without a reference to Twain, migrated to the British magazine "Punch" and a number of other publications, and in 1938 - already with the mention of alcohol - entered Radio monologist The famous comedian of William Claude Fields. It is this year that the first references to Mark Twain appeared in the press in connection with our quote. Moreover, it is not at all about biographical, but about medical publications, one of which, obviously, reprinted the aphorism of the other: "Journal of the American Medical Association" And "Bulletin of the Clinic of Mayo". And only after this reference to Mark Twain in connection with the quote began to grow like mushrooms. Therefore, it is possible to say with a high degree of probability that someone attributed to a rather common joke at that time Mark Twain, based on a lot of his statements on this topic. Twain himself did not say this and did not write.
Incorrect attribution of quote
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