Mark Twain on using new technology in public.
My girlfriend just sent me this note about a quote by Mark Twain. I think it’s especially true today. Everyone I know who likes to own the fanciest new gadgets is also a little hesitant to take them out on the bus.
Here’s what Girlfriend wrote me:
Apparently, Mr. Twain was an early adopter of the typewriter when it was first released and when the typewriter company got wind of this they wrote Twain to ask if they could use him in their advertising. This was his reply:
“Please do not even divulge the fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped using the Type-Writer, for the reason that I never could write a letter with it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that I would not only describe the machine but state what progress I had made in the use of it, etc., etc. I don’t like to write letters, and so I don’t want people to know that I own this curiosity-breeding little joker.” - Mark Twain in a letter, 19 March 1875
