--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only people who should use the…" description: "\"The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png" --- # The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are… ![“The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png) > “The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Only those with absolute authority or absurd authority should claim collective ownership. **In simple terms:** Only kings and absurd editors should use “we”. Key Takeaway Avoid overusing “we” unless truly representative. Themes authority language humor Mood wry satirical Type observational humorous When to use this quote - political speeches - editorial writing - royal decrees - satirical essays Key Concepts collective pronouns social hierarchy Questions to Reflect On - Who truly represents the group you speak for? - When does “we” become inclusive? A Different Perspective Overuse can alienate audiences and seem pretentious. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Kings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kings/) [Newspaper editors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/newspaper-editors/) [Newspapers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/newspapers/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [Hemingway describes literary New York as a bottle full of tapeworms trying to feed on each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/hemingway-describes-literary-new-york-as-a-bottle-full-of-tapeworms/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-am-not-the-editor-of-a-newspaper-and-shall-always-try-to-do-right/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [When I started out, people were afraid of parish priests. Now they're afraid of newspaper editors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-d-higgins/when-i-started-out-people-were-afraid-of-parish-priests-now-they-re/) [Michael D. Higgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-d-higgins/) > [That's absolutely true, but one problem with the digital revolution, which may tie into what I said earlier, is that there can be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/that-s-absolutely-true-but-one-problem-with-the-digital-revolution/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) > [But human deciding what to eat without professional guidance - something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/but-human-deciding-what-to-eat-without-professional-guidance/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [The essays in The Great Taos Bank Robbery were my project to win a Master of Arts degree in English when I quit being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hillerman/the-essays-in-the-great-taos-bank-robbery-were-my-project-to-win-a/) [Tony Hillerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hillerman/) > [One thing that's important to point out is that this kind of populism has a long and mixed history. It's part of this tradition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/astra-taylor/one-thing-that-s-important-to-point-out-is-that-this-kind-of-populism/) [Astra Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/astra-taylor/) > [Show me a contented newspaper editor and I will show you a bad newspaper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-christiansen/show-me-a-contented-newspaper-editor-and-i-will-show-you-a-bad/) [Arthur Christiansen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-christiansen/) > [Newspaper editors are men who separate the wheat from the chaff, and then print the chaff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/newspaper-editors-are-men-who-separate-the-wheat-from-the-chaff-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ Every newspaper editor owes tribute to the devil. \[Fr., Tout faiseur de journaux doit tribut au Malin.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-fontaine/every-newspaper-editor-owes-tribute-to-the-devil-fr-tout-faiseur-de/) [Jean de La Fontaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-fontaine/) > [“I think more people should shoot newspaper editors...it might improve the press”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-follett/i-think-more-people-should-shoot-newspaper-editors-it-might-improve/) [Ken Follett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-follett/) > [Photojournalist? With a few exceptions, those of us working as photojournalists might now more appropriately call ourselves illustrators. For, unlike real reporters, whose job…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-richards/photojournalist-with-a-few-exceptions-those-of-us-working-as/) [Eugene Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-richards/) > [I happen to have a public profile. Ditto newspaper editors. It's a result of what I do, not an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-coogan/i-happen-to-have-a-public-profile-ditto-newspaper-editors-it-s-a/) [Steve Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-coogan/) > [I think we'll have a good potato crop this year," a newspaper editor told his housekeeper one morning. 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Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Editors quotes > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [God often hides His blessing in trouble or trial, which makes it all the sweeter when it comes our way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/god-often-hides-his-blessing-in-trouble-or-trial-which-makes-it-all/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [My biggest advice would be to take the pictures you want to take. Don’t think about the marketplace, what sells or what an editor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lachapelle/my-biggest-advice-would-be-to-take-the-pictures-you-want-to-take-don/) [David LaChapelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lachapelle/) > [A perfect movie is a different thing, but a funny movie is easy. I was really happy that I got everyone that I got.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-walsh/a-perfect-movie-is-a-different-thing-but-a-funny-movie-is-easy-i-was/) [Matt Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-walsh/) > [ I walked all around it \[the Guggenheim Bilbao\] and couldn't find one clear, clean shot. To make things worse, the weather was lousy. Nothing… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-polidori/i-walked-all-around-it-the-guggenheim-bilbao-and-couldn-t-find-one/) [Robert Polidori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-polidori/) > [A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/a-moment-i-ve-been-dreading-george-brought-his-ne-re-do-well-son/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [Authors of published papers and editors of scientific journals can, unfortunately, be slow to come to terms with criticism, and it's good that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-gelman/authors-of-published-papers-and-editors-of-scientific-journals-can/) Andrew Gelman > [Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/democracy-becomes-a-government-of-bullies-tempered-by-editors/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [51% of the French people - who are not very religious - were thinking that what "Charlie Hebdo" did was unwise. They aren't asking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/51-of-the-french-people-who-are-not-very-religious-were-thinking-that/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [If you look at any list of great modern writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, you'll notice two things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-barry/if-you-look-at-any-list-of-great-modern-writers-such-as-ernest/) [Dave Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-barry/) > [Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/only-kings-presidents-editors-and-people-with-tapeworms-have-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [While I was still going to embrace social media, I knew I had to do things that nobody else was doing. I decided I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-edward/while-i-was-still-going-to-embrace-social-media-i-knew-i-had-to-do/) [Mark Edward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-edward/) > [My books have been translated into various languages and sold in other countries, but I never have any contact with the foreign publishers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-zarr/my-books-have-been-translated-into-various-languages-and-sold-in/) [Sara Zarr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-zarr/) > [Every newspaper editor says the heart of the paper is the reporter - which is true - except for the pay!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-germond/every-newspaper-editor-says-the-heart-of-the-paper-is-the-reporter/) [Jack Germond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-germond/) Browse all 976 Editors quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-only-people-who-should-use-the-possessive-we-are-kings-newspaper/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Editors" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-only-people-who-should-use-the-possessive-we-are-kings-newspaper/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/mark-twain-22_editors_the-only-people-who-should-use-the-posse_1154905.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The only people who should use the possessive 'we' are kings, newspaper editors, and persons with tapeworms.” — Mark Twain", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The only people who should use...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-only-people-who-should-use-the-possessive-we-are-kings-newspaper/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-only-people-who-should-use-the-possessive-we-are-kings-newspaper/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```