James Whitcomb Riley

“And the gobble-uns'll git you ef you don't watch out!”

“The rich man's son inherits lands, And piles of brick and stone, and gold... But the poor man's son inherits strains of poetry and song.”

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”

“The frost is on the punkin; the fodder's in the shock.”

“For the world is full of roses, and the roses full of dew, And the dew is full of heavenly love that drips for me and you.”

“With a cheery word and a wave of the hand, he has wandered into an unknown land.”

“You can't take a crash course in serenity.”

“There's a good in every evil, if you're willing to seek it out.”

“My doctern is to lay out skeletons of poetry, that is, the meter and rhyme, and then clothe them with language, sentiment, and imagery.”

“It is no use to grumble and complain; It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice; When God sorts out the weather and sends rain - Why, rain's my choice.”

“Take the world as it is—not as it ought to be.”

“O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best, with the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest.”

“The past is a holy-land, and in my works I have tried to make it live again.”

“The ripest peach is highest on the tree.”

“I have always said and shall say that a man who can be a good, sound, interesting party man can be a good, sound, interesting man.”