Mark Twain Didn’t Say Politicians and Diapers Need to Be Changed Often

We could not find an instance of this quote in any of Twain’s published works or private writings. According to the Center for Mark Twain Studies, the writer only used the word “diaper” once in his work. The term appeared in his novel The Prince and the Pauper in a joke about a “Royal Diaperer.” While Twain was often critical of politicians, he is not responsible for this particular quote.

Over the years, the quote has been used in movies, repeated by politicians, and printed in magazines without being attributed to Twain. The earliest match for this quote Misbar could find was in a 1966 column of  “The San Francisco Examiner.” In the column, author Dick Nolan said “In a sound democracy, our rulers ought to be changed routinely, like diapers for the same reason.”