On the Internet, a statement attributed to the American writer is popular that it is best to invest in the ground, because this is not a renewable product. We decided to check if he said something like that.
In slightly different formulations, the recommendation to buy land meets with attribution of tweet Media, on sites with selections of quotes and aphorisms, on Portals for sale land plots And real estate, in social networks, ("VKontakte" Facebook*, X), on the blog-platforms ("Zen" Livejournal), forums And services questions and answers. There is this quote on the page with Twen's sayings in the Russian -speaking "Wikitate".
A statement about the value of the Earth, which is no longer produced, is widespread not only in Russian, but also on English - And also mainly with indication on the authorship of Twain. However, sometimes a quote attributed And an American actor Will Rogers. However, “verified” did not find her in Twain's texts, which in more than the eyelids that have passed since his death were carefully studied and digitized.
There is no viral quote in the archive Mark Twain Projects Onlinecollected with the support of the University of California in Berkeley, neither in the base Twain quotes, which includes texts belonging to Peru Mark Twain or dedicated to the writer, nor in electronic archive Twain, compiled by the library of the University of Virginia. This phrase was not found in a large collection of quotes "Mark Twain on the fingertips»Edited by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, who had access to the originals of most of his works thanks to the friendship with the daughter of the writer.
The project to check the authenticity of quotes QUOTE Investigator also Studied This statement did not find any evidence that Twain had any relation to him (as, indeed, Rogers). The earliest example of using this phrase discovered by journalists is the publication of 1905 in the McCracken Enterprise newspaper, published in the city of McCan (Kansas, USA): “The other day, one elderly gentleman, advising a friend to buy land, said:“ Almighty the Lord does not create more land, but he creates children every morning. ” However, Twain was not mentioned in this text. The earliest case when the quote was attributed to the writer, QUOTE Investigator found in the issue of the British newspaper Evening Standard, published in May 1971, 61 after the death of the writer. Since Twain was and remains known for his bright aphoristic language, this attribution did not cause doubt among the audience and in subsequent years the statement actively began to attribute to him.
Thus, there are no trustworthy evidence that Twain has any relation to the quote about the benefit of investment in the ground. A very similar statement appeared in the American press during the life of the writer. However, to attribute it to the writer several decades after his death, which also testifies to erroneous attribution.
*The Russian authorities consider Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Photo on the cover: Marr, T. E., PhotoGrapher, Public Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons
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