Hatrack River Forum: Help - source for a dimly-remembered quote

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Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :

(delurking for a bit...)

It's a drag having a trash-bin of a memory that falls far short of perfect recall. Right now, I am obsessing over trying to locate the exact quote and the person who said it.

What I recall is this. Someone (Mark Twain?) was asked to comment on the death of someone they'd long been at odds with. Instead of replying with the usual "well, we might have disagreed, but...", the reply was something along these lines: "My long-time opponent has finally made a decision I approve of."

Or something like this...

Anyone familiar with this?

Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :

Its on the tip of my tongue, and I'm pretty sure Mark Twain is not it.

Posted by kacard (Member # 200) on :

This may be the one you are looking for:

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
Mark Twain

Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :

Thank you!

That's not exactly what I remember, but that will definitely do, considering I might have heard someone else's distortion of the original quote.

[Smile]

Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :

My favorite (although misattributed) Mark Twain quote: "There are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies and statistics." Actually stated by Benjamin Disraeli but quoted in Twain's autobiography.

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

quote:
He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.

- H.H. Munroe

Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :

[ROFL]

**chokes**
(recovers)

Bob, thanks. That's helpful. I'll save it.

Kristine's is more appropriate for the private communication I did earlier. Somehow that quote doesn't seem quite as harsh. Close call, though.

(Proving I am *not* a nice person, this was about a real person who I had no nice words for when he was alive. A "public" figure in my specialized battle realm. I won't make any comments publicly, since I don't want to be a hypocrite or sound brutal and insensitive - no matter how true the latter is.)

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

It has been well documented that Kristine is a much nicer person than most of us here.

Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :

Well, being nicer than me isn't hard.

In retrospect, it's not surprising that Twain had a quote I would want in this situation. He was talented, but never known for being particularly tactful or nice. [Wink]

Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :

I thought the lie/dirty lie quote was from Will Rogers. Huh.