Quotations Weblog

Quotes of the Week: Will Rogers

November 2nd, 1997 by Laura Moncur in Biography

This week marks the birthday of Will Rogers. He’s been called the Cowboy Philosopher, but I never thought of him in that manner. My earliest recollection of anything to do with this hilarious man dealt primarily with the newspaper. His written word was a daily feature in my hometown newspaper. I remember reading his columns and loving every word, never knowing that he had died long before I was ever born. It’s amazing how well his work stands today.

It wasn’t until I had read his column for over a year that I noticed inconsistencies. When I highlighted them to my mom, she laughed heartily, replying that the commentaries that I had been reading were reprints. She pointed to a sentence above his picture that gave the original date in which it ran. I felt silly, of course, but that was just the first in a long line of silliness to come.

The following are a few of the many quotes from William Rogers. Enjoy!

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.”
Illiterate Digest (1924),

“In Hollywood the woods are full of people that learned to write but evidently can’t read; if they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing.”

“When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do – well, that’s Memoirs.”
The Autobiography of Will Rogers (1949)

“The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.”

“You can’t say that civilization don’t advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.”
New York Times, 23 Dec 1929

“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”

“Let Wall Street have a nightmare and the whole country has to help get them back in bed again.”
The Autobiography of Will Rogers (1949)

“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.”
New York Times, 29 Apr 1930

“Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing — and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.”

“Instead of giving money to found colleges to promote learning, why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would have the smartest race of people on earth.”

For more information about Will Rogers, try these links:

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