evidence: This popular quote is commonly misattributed to Mark Twain. However, the first appearance of this quote was in a 1990 book written by bestselling author H. Jackson Brown. Brown's book, P.S. I Love You, contains a collection of memorable sayings from Jackson's mother, and this quote is one of them. In 1998, The New Yorker mistakenly attributed the quote to Mark Twain, and this misattribution has since been reprinted in other publications.