cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Genuine
Yes. In The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter V, ‘The Twins Thrill Dawson’s Landing’, first epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson. These are the character’s words, not a statement in Twain’s own voice.
Found word for word by program in the full text.
- Work
- The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894
- Where
- Chapter V, ‘The Twins Thrill Dawson’s Landing’, first epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar
- Found at
- Paragraph 167 of the text
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
The Twins Thrill Dawson’s Landing.
Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.—Pudd’nhead Wilson1’s Calendar.
Remark of Dr. Baldwin’s, concerning upstarts: We don’t care to eat toadstools that think they are truffles.—Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.
Mrs. York Driscoll enjoyed two years of bliss with that prize, Tom—bliss that was troubled a little at times, it is true, but bliss nevertheless; then she died, and her husband and his childless sister, Mrs. […]
The scene
A calendar epigraph preceding chapter V. The chapter begins with the upbringing of the spoiled Tom, including two unsuccessful years at Yale, before moving to the arrival of the twins in Dawson’s Landing; the college joke sits immediately before this account of Tom’s education.
What it means
Training is imagined as cultivation: an ordinary vegetable becomes an educated, socially elevated version of itself. The college comparison makes the observation a joke about education and status.
Often misread
Often quoted only as a put-down of college education. The full epigraph begins by asserting the importance of training; its horticultural comparison is a comic analogy, not a reliable botanical explanation.
Topics
Related quotes
- In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards.
- When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.
- Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.
- Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. (misattributed)
- Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Sources
Cite it
Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter V, ‘The Twins Thrill Dawson’s Landing’, first epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Spoken by Pudd’nhead Wilson. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/cauliflower-is-cabbage-with-a-college-education/ (31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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