“Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty” has been credited to Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemons, 1835-1910), but there’s no evidence that Twain ever wrote it. The saying is first cited in Leo Rosten’s Giant Book of Laughter (1985); Rosten credited Mark Twain for another quotation on the same page, but this saying was not attributed to any author.
The saying—always attributed to Mark Twain—has been printed in several books published in the 2000s.
Wikipedia: Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908 - February 19, 1997) was born in Łódź, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.
Google Books
Leo Rosten’s Giant Book of Laughter
By Leo Rosten
New York, NY: Bonanza Books: Distributed by Crown Publishers
1989, ©1985
Pg. 167 (Education):
The path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
Google Books
Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes
By Todd Harris Goldman
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Pub.
2001
Pg. 147:
Education: The path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
—Mark Twain
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners:
Over 10,000 Gems of Wit and Wisdom, One-Linersand Wisecracks
By Geoff Tibballs
New York, NY: Carroll & Graff
2004
Pg. 178:
Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
MARK TWAIN
Google Books
The Best Liberal Quotes Ever:
Why The Left Is Right
By William Martin
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks
2004
Pg. 61:
Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
—Mark Twain
Google Books
The 2,320 Funniest Quotes:
The Most Hilarious Quips and One-Liners from AllGreatQuotes.com
By Tom Corr
Berkeley, CA: Ulysses
2011
Pg. 99:
Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.
—Mark Twain
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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