Josh Billings
Josh Billings
Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw. He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States, perhaps second only to Mark Twain, during the latter half of the 19th century...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth21 April 1818
CityLanesborough, MA
CountryUnited States of America
men quality doe
One of the rarest things that a man ever does, is to do the best he can.
ignorance damage doe
It's not ignorance does so much damage; it's knowin' so derned much that ain't so.
hero doe
Everyone who does the best he can is a hero.
practice paper doe
Theory looks well on paper, but does not amount to anything without practice.
honesty men doe
True valor is like honesty; it enters into all that a man sees and does.
passion doe virtue
Virtue does not consist in the absence of the passions, but in the control of them.
doubt cards doe
Zoroaster said, when in doubt abstain; but this does not always apply. At cards, when in doubt take the trick.
cabbage doe genius
Early genius, like early cabbage, does not head well.
wise men doe
Experience makes more timid men than it does wise ones.
mistake doe reason
Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.
men fool doe
It ain't what a man don't know that makes him a fool, but what he does know that ain't so.
begins care good loses man
When a man loses his health, then he first begins to take good care of it
hundred known remarkable
I've never known a person to live to be one hundred and be remarkable for anything else
cologne flattery swallowed
Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt of, not swallowed