Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) once boasted about his amazing memory prowess to his friend Bennet Langton (1736–1801). As a demonstration, he said that he can recite
Category: Anecdotes
A Way to Answer Illegible Letters
When poet Thomas Bailey Aldritch received a letter from his friend Prof. E. S. Morse which was practically unreadable, he sent the following amusing reply
Memory and Forgetfulness
Themistocles, when Simonides said that he would teach him mnemonics, or the art of improving one’s memory, replied that he would rather learn the art of forgetfulness: Memory, and thou, Forgetfulness, all hail!Each in her province greatly may avail.Memory, of all things good remind us still:Forgetfulness, obliterate all that’s ill. This was
Being Laconic Is Harder than You Think
One time, the publisher of Mark Twain told him through telegram to write a short story: NEED 2-PAGE SHORT STORY TWO DAYS Twain wired back
An Ingenious Postman
It’s been known how determined and ingenious some postal authorities can be. There have been many anecdotes about it and here’s one of them. It’s
Mark Twain Set the Record Straight
As a correspondent of San Francisco Morning Call in 1864, Mark Twain and San Francisco Chief of Police Martin J. Bsurke were in a relatively good terms.
