Franklin P. Adams
Franklin P. Adams
Franklin Pierce Adamswas an American columnist, well known by his initials F.P.A., and wit, best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please. A prolific writer of light verse, he was a member of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s...
stars love-you numbers
If, my dear, you seek to slumber; Count of stars an endless number; If you will continue wakeful; Count the drops that make a lakeful; Then if vigilance yet above you Hover, Count the times I love you; And if slumber sill repel you Count the times I do not tell you.
running cheer might
Every time we tell anybody to cheer up, things might be worse, we run away for fear we might be asked to specify how.
success men doors
If a man keeps his trap shut, the world will beat a path to his door.
weather influence easily-influenced
I am easily influenced. Compared with me a weather vane is Gibraltar.
play bird giants
These are the saddest of possible words, Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance. Trio of Bear Cubs fleeter than birds, Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double, Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble, Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance. This brief poem, immortalized the Chicago Cubs' double-play combination: Shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance.
two listening stuff
Ninety-two percent of the stuff told you in confidence you couldn't get anyone else to listen to.
order chaos
Chaos breeds life, while order breeds success.
public-speaking futility knows
Accustomed as I am to public speaking, I know the futility of it.
reality too-much truth-is
Too much truth is uncouth.
country heart fate
The rich man has his motorcar, His country and his town estate, He smokes a fifty-cent cigar And jeers at Fate. He frivols through the livelong day, He knows not Poverty, her pinch. His lot seems light, his heart seems gay; He has a cinch. Yet though my lamp burns low and dim, Though I must slave for livelihood- Think you that I would change with him? You bet I would!
christmas
Christmas is over and Business is Business.
money-isnt-everything
Money isn't everything, but lack of money isn't anything.
birthday men two
There must be a day or two in a man's life when he is the precise age for something important.
writing imagination might
Having imagination, it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that, if you were unimaginative, would take you only a minute. Or you might not write the paragraph at all.