Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (American Humorist)

Josh Billings (1818–85,) pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw, was an American humorist. His philosophical remarks, published as newspaper articles, books, and comic lectures, were widely popular after the Civil War, perhaps second only to Mark Twain. Shaw’s reputation has not endured so well with later generations.

Born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, Shaw tried various livelihoods before becoming an auctioneer and a land agent in Poughkeepsie, New York. At age forty-five, he started contributing humorous columns to a local newspaper under the name “Josh Billings.” They didn’t appeal until he altered his style and began using phonetic spelling to signify a rural dialect. He changed an article he had written as “Essay on the Mule” to “A Essa on the Meul bi Josh Billings”—this was printed in a New York City newspaper and made him immediately well known.

A popular newspaper columnist, Shaw published lighthearted almanacs and collections of wisecracks. He relied heavily on purposeful misspelling, fractured grammar, malapropisms, futile logic, and anticlimax. This technique was widespread among contemporaneous comic writers who assumed the role of “cracker-barrel philosophers.”

Shaw’s popular books included Josh Billings, His Sayings (1866,) Josh Billings on Ice (1868,) Josh Billings’ Farmers’ Allminax (1870,) Everybody’s Friend (1874,) Josh Billings’ Trump Kards (1877,) Old Probability: Perhaps Rain—Perhaps Not (1879,) and Josh Billings Struggling with Things (1881.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)

There is a sort of charm in ugliness, if the person has some redeeming qualities and is only ugly enough.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Charm

To enjoy a good reputation give publicly, and steal privately.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Charity

It ain’t so much trouble to get rich as it is to tell when we have got rich.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Wealth, Blessings, Gratitude, Appreciation

Never run into debt, not if you can find anything else to run into.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Debt

Experience is a school where a man learns what a big fool he has been.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Experience

It ain’t often that a man’s reputation outlasts his money.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Reputation

Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist: it reduces him to his fighting weight.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Adversity, Blessings, Silver Linings, Weight

There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Memories, Memory

The happiest time in a man’s life is when he is in the red hot pursuit of a dollar with a reasonable prospect of overtaking it.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Business

The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Complaining, Pessimism, Complaints

Confess your sins to the Lord, and you will be forgiven; confess them to men, and you will be laughed at.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Sin

Pity costs nothing and ain’t worth nothing.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Service, Sympathy

No one can disgrace us but ourselves.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Self-Esteem, Self Respect

I am a poor man, but I have this consolation: I am poor by accident, not by design.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Poverty, The Poor

Poverty is the step-mother of genius.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: The Poor, Poverty

The trouble with most folks ain’t so much their ignorance as knowing so many things that ain’t so.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Knowledge

Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: One liners, Silence, Arguments

The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his way.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Fools, Foolishness

It is always safe to follow the religious belief that our mother taught us; there never was a mother yet who taught her child to be an infidel.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)

There is a significant Latin proverb; to wit: Who will guard the guards?
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Caution

Most everyone seems willing to be a fool himself, but he can’t bear to have anyone else one.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Hypocrisy

There’s lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven’t the time to enjoy it.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Health

The man who ain’t got an enemy is really poor.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Enemy

As a general thing, when the woman wears the pants in the family, she has a good right to them.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Marriage

It is a very delicate job to forgive a man, without lowering him in his own estimation, and yours too.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Forgiveness

Always live within your income, even if you have to borrow money to do so.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Debt

In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Age, Aging, Youth, Difficulty

The trouble with people is not that they don’t know but that they know so much that ain’t so.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Ignorance

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)

Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw)
Topics: Laughter, Feelings

Wondering Whom to Read Next?

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *