Cowboy Wisdom from Will Rogers
Will Rogers was a famous Vaudeville performer in the early part of this century. He was well loved by the people of the country for his down home cowboy wisdom and humor. Will Rogers wowed the crowds at Wild West Shows with his rope tricks, gaining stardom in his run with the Zeigfeld Follies. He wrote a humor column for newspapers across the country. Will even starred in movies, such as the classic Connecticut Yankee. In nineteen twenty eight, Will ran for president of the United States on the independent ticket, and got 22 electoral votes in his home state of Oklahoma.
Will Rogers died in nineteen thirty eight in a plane crash in Alaska
In 1990, Will Rogers returned to Broadway in the Tony award winning musical, The Will Rogers Follies. And here, without further ado, is a collection of Will's best cowboyisms:
* A man that don't love horses? There's something the matter with him
* If he has no sympathy for a man that does love horses then there is something worse the matter with him
# I never met a man I didn't like
* All I know is what I read in the papers
* Legalize racing in every State. Sure people will bet, but they get to see the horses run and you certain can't see General Motors and General Electric and the General Utility run when you bet on them
* Phar Lap was just a horse but he brought you honor and represented you nobly (commenting on the death of Phar Lap, Australian race horse)
* Presidents become great, but they have to be made Presidents first
* I don't know who started the idea that a President has to be a politician, instead of a businessman. A politician can't run any other kind of business, so there is no reason why he can run the U.S. That's the biggest single business in the world.
* A war either makes or breaks a nation, so either way you always get a fifty fifty break.
* Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom
* I am a peace man. I haven't got any use for wars and there is no more humor in 'em than there is reason for 'em
* You never saw a good horse grow where a man couldn't
* I love horses and I only ask- don't let me know which one we are eating today (commenting on the depression-era possibility that his family may be forced to eat horses because that was all he raised on his ranch)
* There is a horse here - the furthest north of any horse, and he eats fish and walks on snowshoes (at Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada)
* Horsemanship through the history of all nations has been considered one of the highest accomplishments. You can't pass a park without seeing a statue of some old codger on a horse. It must be to his bravery, you can tell it's not to his horsemanship.
*There will never be a time when the old horse is not superior to any auto ever made.
* They used to take your horse and if they were caught they got hung for it. Now if they take your car and if they are caught it's a miracle.
Will Rogers had many more famous sayings. These are just a few that I got from the Will Rogers Memorial Museum Site
Also, some came from the nifty book: Will Rogers' World compiled by Bryan B. Sterling and Frances N. Sterling
HOME