Blaise Pascal on Keeping it Short
Regarding yesterday’s quote attributed to Mark Twain, reader Steve Kayser brought to my attention that “Twain cribbed that quote from Blaise Pascal.”
So I did some quick checking just now (Google is one heck of a writer’s tool, don’t you think?), and it seems that Steve’s spot on.
Here’s Pascal’s “original” quote (it’s very unlikely that Pascal said this in English… he was quite French):
“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” — BLAISE PASCAL
I think Twain said it better (and funnier), but it’s really difficult not to conclude Twain outsourced that particular bit of wit from B.P.
FYI:
Blaise Pascal was, as I said, French, and lived in the 1600s, if memory serves. To me and my education, he was Mr. Mechanical Calculator and the guy who the programming language was named after.
American Samuel Clemens (Twain’s real name) lived in the 1800s to the early 1900s, and probably most famous for penning The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
So chances are very good the two never met. It’s also quite clear who came first on the quote timeline.
FWIW.
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4 Responses to “Blaise Pascal on Keeping it Short”
By Jim Harden on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
Sorry, but not necessarily!
Twain could have learned the expression from ole Oscar! (who, in turn, cribbed it from Pascal)
Playright Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 lived at the
same time as Twain 1835-1910.
Wilde ,in a letter to a friend, aplogised for the long letter explaining he did not have the time to write a s hort one.
By Wordpreneur on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
The plot thickens! Your theory sounds a bit more plausible. The timeline works, and Wilde’s European (leaving the world in France to boot), making it more likely to know who the heck Pascal was, or at least be exposed to the man’s wit.
Now we have to figure out who Pascal got it from. hehe
ees
By Michael Werner on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
Well, I think I can help out here. Pascal actually had it handed to him from a relative of Joan of Arc, who said, right near the end, “Damn, I wish I had time to write a longer letter.”
And, there you go.
DM Werner
By Wordpreneur on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
Joan of Arc was literate?
ees