As I have been reading The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain, edited by Alex Ayres, I found a variety of surprising yet intriguing quotes by this great American author. In fact, I found myself reading the text in an old Southern accent in my head (but that might be irrelevant). Regardless, I feel like I have a better understanding of the type of person Samuel Clemens was with each page I turn.
Thus far in the book, one of my favorite quotes has been, "A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read," (p. 43). This quote comes from Twain's 1900 speech,"The Disappearance of Literature".
One reason that I like this quote so much is because I find it to be completely accurate. While I have enjoyed reading some of the classics, there are many that I did not find joy in and utterly despised - to be blunt. Furthermore, saying that you have read classics makes you - in my opinion - appear more educated. I think this is due in part to the fact that the classics are not the easiest books to read; it takes effort.
In addition, I like how Twain can make fun of something that is part of his profession; he is a writer, after all. Moreover, though he did not know it at the time, he wrote classics. It makes me wonder if he would still agree with his own statement today.
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