Two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead

[annie]

in The Thrill of the Chase book Forrest wrote something like two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead. 
In my solve the trail goes past the memorial plaque of a boy scout who unfortunately lost his footing and fell to his death. 
Does anyone elses solve have anything similar?

[dean]

I've never understood that phrase. I can divulge many secrets that no one other than me ever knew about. One person can keep a secret if that person is dead.

[indulgenceseeker]

Mark Twain supposedly said that phrase. And one could modify it for clarity: "Two people can keep a shared secret as long as one of them is dead."

[Apple]

Annie, I don't have something similar but I do think it's potentially interesting.  For clarity, from the end of Gold and More and immediately after the poem (p.133):

There are also subtle clues sprinkled in the stories. It was vital that nobody share my knowledge about the location of the treasure. Two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

I can't verify if Mark Twain authored that last sentence, as indulgenceseeker noted, but it is definitely a variation of something that Benjamin Franklin said: "three people can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."

As explained in greater detail in another post, I was working with the idea that (1) there is crucial hidden information in the poem that can be revealed through a systematic method and (2) that TTOTC is as much or more so an instruction manual for this method than a memoir.

What if this statement is part of the instructions?  As I outlined in another post, I believe the systematic method for revealing hidden information in the poem involves partnering.  Read a slightly different way, which I fully acknowledge this is a huge reach on its own, what if the sentence is just yet another way of saying that partnering, in this case of Fenn with a dead person, is one of the elements required to reveal a secret (e.g. some of the crucial hidden information about the location of the treasure).  This may be related to the statements from Me in the Middle: "I was in the middle and that was significant because I felt somehow surrounded" and "it sure would be nice if they could all come back so I could be in the middle again" (p.35).

How would this work?  I don't know.  Many guesses on my and Nkown's part, all no go.

Take these ideas with a grain of salt as I never discovered anything hidden, including the treasure.

[annie]

Jeff, the line “Two people can keep a secret If one of them is dead “ comes (if i remember correctly) right after the poem in Thrill of the Chase. It is why i remembered it when i was doing my solve. It is not in the poem itself, but Forrest did give it in one of his hints or interviews as well.
The memorial marker or a boy scout is placed on the trail my solve follows, so Forrest must have known, I understand the memorial plaque is in a prominent position.
So if one imagines Forrest carrying the treasure chest past him, and back then again with the treasure ( he said two trips from his car) then the memorial would kind of notice him..
When i first thought this - i was a bit uncomfortable with it, so not sure if it would be true. It is a memorial and NOT a grave. It isnt a make or break deal in my solve but just something that one passes.
He also mentions only the Phantom knows, and that is also one of my solve locations !
?