Smoke and Mirrors, Tobacco Industry Style
January 18, 2007
The famous and almost certainly apocryphal quote by Mark Twain about quitting smoking maintained that it was easy; after all, he'd done it a thousand times. Whether he actually said it or not, that meme (established long before the word 'meme' itself) is highly resonant: what smoker hasn't felt that way? It's also attractive for two reasons: it's self-deprecatory - we are imperfect creatures, after all - and it allows one to go right on smoking.
Now you have to admit: that's one cool meme.