“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'”
- November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
- American
- Author, humorist, and lecturer
- Wrote masterpieces such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and had a major influence on American literature
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Quote
“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'”
Explanation
Mark Twain’s quote humorously reflects on the timing of his birth and death in relation to the famous Halley’s Comet, which is visible from Earth approximately once every 76 years. Twain was born in 1835, the year Halley’s Comet last passed by Earth, and he made this remark in 1909, anticipating that he would die when the comet returned in 1910. The humor lies in Twain’s wry self-awareness about his unusual timing and the idea that the comet and he were freak occurrences of nature—both entering the world in an unlikely coincidence and, by his logic, both should exit in the same dramatic way. Twain imagines that the Almighty (God) would think it fitting for such a quirky pairing to meet their end together, emphasizing how significant he thought his own life was in relation to the comet’s return.
This quote also reflects Twain’s typical ironic humor and philosophical reflections on life and death. By linking his life so closely to an astronomical event, he both acknowledges the randomness of existence and plays with the idea of destiny and fate—wondering whether his departure from the world should somehow align with such an extraordinary event.
In modern contexts, this quote resonates with how people often reflect on their own significance in relation to larger, universal events. Twain’s playful connection between his birth and death with Halley’s Comet highlights the curious coincidences and the ways we try to find meaning in timing and patterns in life. It also serves as a reminder of how humor can help us confront mortality and reflect on the unpredictability of our place in the universe. Twain did indeed pass away in April 1910, just one day after Halley’s Comet’s closest approach to Earth, adding an eerie and poetic layer to his prediction.
