A quote is popular on the Internet that excessive zeal should be avoided even in moderation. These words attribute to the famous American writer. We decided to check if he said something like that.

The analyzed phrase with attribution Mark Twain Found on sites With quotes famous personalities and aphorisms. She is often Included V Collections the writer's statements on the network and even in printed Collections. Social networks are divided by quote (X, Facebook*, "VKontakte") And Platform blog.

The work of Mark Twain is well studied and digitized. The largest portals where you can familiarize yourself with the texts of the American writer is the archive Mark Twain Projects Onlineassembled with the support of the University of California in Berkeley, the base Twain quotes, which includes the texts belonging to the writer's pen or dedicated to him, and the electronic archive Mark TwainGathered by the library of the University of Virginia. In the collections of these projects “verified” it was not possible to find either an accurate quote or its individual parts in translation into English, the author’s native language. The phrase was not included in the big collection of quotes of the writer "Mark Twain on the fingertips»Edited by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, a close acquaintance of Twain's daughter, who had the opportunity to personally study his manuscripts.

However, in one of Twain's notebooks, there really is a close in meaning statement, although in a completely different formulation: “Moderate abstinence is best. Excessive abstinence harms the case of abstinence, and moderate abstinence helps him in the fight against immoderate adequacy. Fanatics will never know this, although this is written in gold letters in the sky. ” In 1881, in The Washington Post, another of it was published dictum In this subject, also very different from the disassembled: “Complete abstinence is so excellent that it cannot be brought to extreme. In my passion for this, I go so far that I completely refrain from the most complete abstinence. ” It is noteworthy that none of these formulations in the Russian -language segment of the Internet are practically not found.

The verified phrase about moderation in moderation is also popular among English-language Internet users-however, it is primarily attributed to it Irish writer Oscar Wilde And the American diplomat Horace to the porter. Portal The Quote Investigator, specializing in the study of the origin of popular quotes, discovered dozens of cases when a statement of moderation was used in books and the media in formulations that are very similar to the verified. In some publications, authorship was not indicated at all, in others - it was attributed to the widest circle of people: from the ancient Roman thinker, the author of the novel "Satyricon" by Guy Petronius Arbiter to the American statesman Benjamin Franklin.

The earliest case of the use of this quote in Russian (and immediately with the attribution of Twain), which “verified” was found, - - fast On the social network Twitter (now - X) @gayavat user on October 27, 2016. That tweet did not gain reposts or likes, but a few days later the phrase indicating the authorship of the American writer Published On the site with selections of quotes of famous people, and already from there, probably, she dispersed through the Russian -language segment of the Internet.

Thus, there is no evidence that Mark Twain has ever written about moderation in the disassembled formulation. In the English -language segment of the Internet, as well as in the media, the quote is widespread and known for several decades, but it has almost never been attributed to an American writer. In the Russian -speaking segment, it appeared only in 2016 - and immediately with the attribution of Twain, obviously, erroneous. The language of this writer is figurative and aphoristic, therefore it is not surprising that he is so often quoted. However, it is precisely because of this to him, as, for example, Albert Einstein, ascribe other people's statements. They do this either by mistake (because they believe that Twain could say something like that), or to give his own thoughts greater weight.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: marktwainhouse.blogspot.comPublic Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons