PSA: I'm having a dry February, and honestly it's a good thing

"If you can't make 70 by comfortable road, do go."

What does this mean, Robert? I've read my share of Clemens, but I don't recall the context for this Delphic quip.
 
hmm, it sounds pretty straightforward to me.

it means that if you have to give up the things that allow you to enjoy life in order to reach 70, don't do it.

quality of years is more important than quantity of years.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
hmm, it sounds pretty straightforward to me.

it means that if you have to give up the things that allow you to enjoy life in order to reach 70, don't do it.

quality of years is more important than quantity of years.
Click to expand...

Then, he must have said "Don't go." I believe your version is what makes Ian ask.Indeed, the version I get from googling is "And I wish to urge upon you this - which I think is wisdom - that if you find you can't make 70 by any but an uncomfortable road, don't you go."
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by robert ames:
hmm, it sounds pretty straightforward to me.

it means that if you have to give up the things that allow you to enjoy life in order to reach 70, don't do it.

quality of years is more important than quantity of years.
Click to expand...

Then, he must have said "Don't go." I believe your version is what makes Ian ask.Indeed, the version I get from googling is "And I wish to urge upon you this - which I think is wisdom - that if you find you can't make 70 by any but an uncomfortable road, don't you go."
Click to expand...

woops, yes, that is my typo. it should say 'don't go'. uff da.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
hmm, it sounds pretty straightforward to me.

it means that if you have to give up the things that allow you to enjoy life in order to reach 70, don't do it.

quality of years is more important than quantity of years.
Click to expand...

I thought it meant, 'if you can't take the easy path in life, drop dead.'
 
originally posted by MarkS:
originally posted by robert ames:
hmm, it sounds pretty straightforward to me.

it means that if you have to give up the things that allow you to enjoy life in order to reach 70, don't do it.

quality of years is more important than quantity of years.
Click to expand...

I thought it meant, 'if you can't take the easy path in life, drop dead.'
Click to expand...

yes, my typo made it a head scratcher.
 
I had read the original version as a sly joke along the lines of, if you can't stay alive the easy way, don't be stupid about it, stay alive! Twain was an impressive humorist, but he was never that sly with his paradox, though. I should have known better.
 
Twain, self-confessedly, liked neither classical music in general, nor Wagner in particular. Liking both as I do, I also like Wagner. I have heard that opinions differ, of course. The line about it being better than it sounds, however, is the kind of aware Yogi-ism that Twain was capable of at his best.
 
That is indeed the quotation I had in mind, but I now read that Twain himself attributed this quip to another contemporaneous humorist (Bill Nye?).

"Aware Yogi-ism?" Verily, you have a unique turn of phrase, Dr. Loesberg.
 
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