On what would have been his 176th birthday, some advice from Old Sam Clemens for journalists of the past, present and whatever future the profession has, courtesy of the Mental Floss article linked to below:
— “Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.”
— “Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworm have the right to use the editorial ‘we’.”
— “I don’t give a damn for a man who can spell a word only one way.”— “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”— “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”— “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.”— “My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. Fortunately, everybody drinks water.”
In the real world, the right thing never happens in the right place and the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to make it appear that it has. — Mark Twain
Happy 176th Birthday, Mark Twain!
A few years ago, Mental Floss gathered a series of quotes and called it the Mark Twain School of Journalism.
Among my favorites: Get your facts first and then you can distort them as much as you wish. — Michael
Image: Detail from Time Magazine’s July 2008 cover.
(Source: futurejournalismproject)
