IT’S THE FASHION.
from A Tramp Abroad (1880)
Here is another Twain “quote” for which there is no verification: “Twenty-four years ago I was strangely handsome; in San Francisco in the rainy season I was often mistaken for fair weather.” That one falls into the category of, if he didn’t say it, he should have. Or, to accurately quote director John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Fair weather or ill, Twain had some gorgeous advice on the subject of beauty.
In true beauty, more depends upon right location and judicious distribution of feature than upon multiplicity of them. The very combination of colors which in a volcanic eruption would add beauty to a landscape might detach it from a girl.
—The American Claimant (1892)
One frequently only finds out how really beautiful a really beautiful woman is after considerable acquaintance with her; and the rule applies to Niagara Falls, to majestic mountains, and to mosques—especially to mosques.
—The Innocents Abroad (1869)
One is apt to overestimate beauty when it is rare.
—The Innocents Abroad (1869)
There are women who have an indefinable charm in their faces which makes them beautiful to their intimates, but a cold stranger who tried to reason the matter out and find this beauty would fail.
—A Tramp Abroad (1880)
She had a beautiful complexion when she first came, but it faded out by degrees in an unaccountable way. However, it is not lost for good. I found the most of it on my shoulder afterwards.
—Sketches New and Old (1875)
All things change except barbers, the ways of barbers, and the surroundings of barbers. These never change.
—Sketches New and Old (1875)
A barber seldom rubs you like a Christian.
—Sketches New and Old (1875)
When red-headed people are above a certain social grade their hair is auburn.
—A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)
Forty years ago I was not so good-looking. A looking glass then lasted me three months. Now I can wear it out in two days.
—Autobiography
