Did Mark Twain say age is just a state of mind?
I am talking about this popular quote ascribed to Mark Twain:
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”
If you ask Google Search, “who said age is an issue of mind over matter if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter?” or “who said age is a matter of mind?”
Mind you, Google Search says it is Mark Twain.
As expected, this quote is wrongly attributed to Mark Twain, are published in both BrainyQuote and GoodReads.
This wrongly-attributed quote is also found in Idaho State University website.
Of course, you would not be able to find this quotation in any of the writings, speeches, or interviews of humorist and novelist Mark Twain.
Below I have gathered a couple of quotes about age and aging by Mark Twain, which you might want to check them out.
So, if Mark Twain did not write or utter this line, then who actually did?
Age Is Just A State Of Mind
I managed to find this quotation in a 1968 New York newspaper, where it says:
As one government researcher puts it: “Aging is a matter of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
(Researchers Say Heredity Affects Aging, Schenectady Gazette, July 11, 1968, P. 38) source
It is at the last paragraph of the article.
According to a study, old age is a state of mind as much as the body, which found that people who have a younger outlook are more healthy in old age.
Talking about old age, maybe you would like to ponder over these three aging quotations:
“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” – H. L. Mencken
(Prejudices: Third Series By H. L. Mencken, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922, XVIII, Advice To Young Men, 2, The Venerable Explained, P. 311) source
“Years do not make sages; they only make old men.” – Madame Swetchine
(The Writings Of Madame Swetchine, Edited By Count De Falloux, Translated By H. W. Preston, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1869, CI, P. 75) source
(The quote is also found here)
“Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(Memories Of My Melancholy Whores By Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Translated From The Spanish By Edith Grossman, New York: Vintage Books, 5, Ch.3, P. 60) source
Note: The above book from Internet Archive is for borrowing only. Find out how to download and save borrowed books from Internet Archive.
Keep this in mind, age is just a state of mind quote is not by American humorist-novelist Mark Twain.
Let’s find out what Mark Twain had to say about age and aging.
Mark Twain Quotes About Age And Aging
“Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.” – Mark Twain
(Mark Twain’s Letters Arranged With Comment By Albert Bigelow Paine, Two Volumes, Vol. II, New York & London: Harper & Brother Publishers, 1917, XL, To Edward L. Dimmitt, In St. Louis: Among The Adirondacks Lakes, July 19, 1901, P. 709) source
(The quote is also found in: The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volumes 5-6 1901-1906 & 1907-1910, By Mark Twain, Arranged With Comment By Albert Bigelow Paine, New York: First World Publishing, 2004, To Edward L. Dimmitt, In St. Louis: Among The Adirondacks Lakes, July 19, 1901, P. 16) source
“…age is not determined by years, but by trouble and by infirmities of mind and body.” – Mark Twain
(Mark Twain’s Speeches, New York London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910, Unconscious Plagiarism, August 29, 1879, P. 58) source
(The quote is also found here.)
“I have found that when a man reaches the advanced age of seventy-one years, as I have, the continual sight of dark clothing is likely to have a depressing effect upon him.” – Mark Twain
(Mark Twain’s Speeches, New York London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910, While waiting to appear before the committee, Mr. Clemens talked to the reporters, P. 86) source
“…we can’t reach old age by another man’s road.” – Mark Twain
(Mark Twain’s Speeches, New York London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910, Seventieth Birthday, December 5, 1905, P. 428) source
“When a man stands on the verge of seventy-two you know perfectly well that he never reached that place without knowing what this life is — heartbreaking bereavement.” – Mark Twain
(Mark Twain’s Speeches, New York London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910, Books, Authors, And Hats, P. 39) source
“I find no change of consequence in grown people, I do not miss the dead. It does not surprise me to hear that this friend or that friend died at such and such a time, because I fully expected that sort of news.” – Mark Twain
(Daily Alta California, 19 May 1867, Letter From Mark Twain (No. XIII), St. Louis, March 25th. 1867, Where The Change Is) source
“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” – Mark Twain
(Following The Equator: A Journey Around The world By Mark Twain, Hartford: American Publishing Co., New York: Doubleday & McClure Co.,1897, Ch. LII, P. 496) source
(The quote is also found here.)
“Seventy is old enough. After that there is too much risk.” – Mark Twain
(Following The Equator: A Journey Around The world By Mark Twain, Hartford: American Publishing Co., New York: Doubleday & McClure Co.,1897, Ch. XXIX, P. 284) source
“Whatever a man’s age may be, he can reduce it several years by putting a bright-colored flower in his button-hole.” – Mark Twain
(The American Claimant By Mark Twain, New York: Charles L. Webster Co., 1892, Ch. XX, P. 28) source
(The quote is also found here.)
“As soon as a man recognizes that he has drifted into age, he gets reminiscent. He wants to talk and talk; and not about the present or the future, but about his old times. For there is where the pathos of his life lies — and the charm of it. The pathos of it is there because it was opulent with treasures that are gone, and the charm of it is in casting them up from the musty ledgers and remembering how rich and gracious they were.” – Mark Twain
(Who Is Mark Twain? By Mark Twain, New York: HarperCollins, 2009, Frank Fuller And My First New York Lecture, P. 7) source
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