You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ’pinions is.

In this dialect-heavy aphorism, Twain suggests that a person’s opinions are strongly shaped—often unconsciously—by material dependence. “Corn pone” stands for one’s livelihood: wages, patronage, or any source of sustenance. If you know who feeds a man, you can predict what he will believe, defend, or publicly profess. The line is a skeptical comment on the purity of political and moral conviction, implying that self-interest and economic pressure frequently masquerade as principle. It also anticipates modern ideas about ideology and incentives: beliefs are not formed in a vacuum but are entangled with class position, employment, and social reward.