Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), the American author and humorist known for 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn,' made this wry observation about literacy. Twain's wit emphasized that reading ability alone is useless without the desire to learn. Kurt Vonnegut and Jimmy Breslin were 20th century writers, and Twain's authorship of this quote is well-documented.