I will remark here, in passing, that certain ancestors of mine are so thoroughly well known in history by their aliases, that I have not felt it to be worthwhile to dwell upon them … . It is not well, when writing an autobiography, to follow your ancestry down too close to your own time–it is safest to speak only vaguely of your great-grandfather, and then skip from there to yourself, which I now do. I was born without teeth–and there Richard III had the advantage of me; but I was born without a humpback, likewise, and there I had the advantage of him. My parents were neither very poor nor conspicuously honest. But now a thought occurs to me. My own history would really seem so tame contrasted with that of my ancestors, that it is simply wisdom to leave it unwritten until I am hanged. If some other biographies I have read had stopped with the ancestry until a like event occurred, it would have been a felicitous thing, for the reading public. How does it strike you?

“A Burlesque Autobiography,” by Mark Twain

How does it strike me? Funny, very funny. Mark Twain is one of the greatest writers of all times. He addresses any subject with witty humor. Here he laughs at his biography: “My own history would really seem so tame contrasted with that of my ancestors, that it is simply wisdom to leave it unwritten until I am hanged.” A humorous touch is to a literary work what a pinch of salt is to insipid food. Did you ever read his story “1601”? Don’t miss it.