https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:28:03 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 https://wist.info/twain-mark/18391/ https://wist.info/twain-mark/18391/#respond Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:31:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=18391 Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Spurious)

Written as such, I was unable to find any online book reference with the expression prior to 2001, except for a possible 1982 second-hand mention in a Forbes Magazine letter column. Further research (see QI link below) finds the first mention of something substantially like this in 1935, recollecting a similar statement by newspaper editor William Allen White several years before. All post-date Twain's death. For more details, and other variants of this quotation, see Advice Origin: Substitute ‘Damn’ Every Time You’re Inclined to Write ‘Very’ – Quote Investigator®. ]]> https://wist.info/twain-mark/18391/feed/ 0 18391