“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”

What does it mean?

A joke on the famous advice "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today". Twain turns it into an excuse to delay things even longer.

Key vocabulary

put off

delay; do later

• “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter: 'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.”– Mark Twain
• “I know grammar by ear only, not by note, not by the rules.”– Mark Twain
• “In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”– Mark Twain
• “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”– Often attributed to Mark Twain