“Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.”
Documented source
Every quote here is traced to a documented source. How we verify →
About this line
It opens Chapter XV of The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), credited to “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.” The same chapter opens with a second saying: “Put all your eggs in the one basket and—watch that basket.”
Wilson earned his nickname in Chapter I. Hearing a dog howl, he said he wished he owned half of it. Asked why, he answered, “Because I would kill my half.” The town decided he was a pudd’nhead, a fool, and within a week the nickname had replaced his first name.
Why we carry this line
Don’t we all think it’s the other person? Instead of remembering that when we’re pointing a finger, the thumb points squarely at our own chest.
Twain says it so much better than me. And that’s why it’s on the site.
The design
The pointing hand is a manicule. Readers drew it in book margins, and printers set it in type, to flag a passage that mattered.
Here it points at “other people’s,” which is exactly where we all point.
