Quotes from Josh Billings

I never question a success, any more than I do the right of a bulldog to lie in his own gateway.

As the flint contains the spark, unknown to itself, which the steel alone can awaken to life, so adversity often reveals to us hidden gems, which prosperity or negligence would forever have hidden.

If there was no faith there would be no living in this world. We could not even eat hash with any safety.

A puppy plays with every pup he meets, but an old dog has few associates.

Don't ever prophesy; for if you prophesy wrong, nobody will forget it; and if you prophesy right, nobody will remember it.

The best medicine I know for rheumatism is to thank the Lord that it ain't gout.

Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time.

The best condition in life is to be not so rich as to be envied nor so poor as to be damned.

I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time.

The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.

The thinner the ice, the more anxious is everyone to see whether it will bear.

Rosemary Thornton

If you ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it, as the old woman did her lost spectacles, safe on her own nose all the time.

There's a lot of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven't the time to enjoy it.

I would much rather always look forward to the time when I am going to ride in a carriage, than to look back on the time when I used to.

As in a game ov cards, so in the game ov life, we must play what is dealt tew us, and the glory consists, not so mutch in winning, as in playing a poor hand well.

Life is like a mountain: after climbing up one side and sliding down the other, put up the sled.

Words are often seen hunting for an idea, but ideas are never seen hunting for words.

The time to pray is not when we are in a tight spot but just as soon as we get out of it.

Waves are inspiring not because they rise and fail, but because each time they fall. They never fail to rise again.

Selfish people, with no heart to speak of, have the best time of it.

Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.

I have never known a person to live to be one hundred and be remarkable for anything else.

Despatch is taking time by the ears; hurry is taking it by the end of the tail.