The Complete Works of Josh Billings Part 72

I don't think a bad man iz az dandgerous az a weak one--I don't think that a bile that haz c.u.m tew a hed, iz az risky as a hidden one, that may c.u.m tew a dozzen heds.

A vivid imaganashun iz like sum gla.s.ses, makes things at a distance look twice az big as they am, and cluss to, twice as small az they am.

Hope iz a draft on futurity, sumtimes honored, but generally extended.

If the world dispizes a hypokrit, what must they think ov him in Heaven.

Flattery iz like Colone water, tew be smelt ov, not swallowed.

After all, there don't seem tew be but this diffrence between the wize men and the phools; the wize men are all fuss and sum feathers, while the phools are all fuss and no feathers.

Without friends and without enemys iz the last reliable ackount we hav ov a stray dog.

Men generally, when they whip a mule, sware; the mule remembers the swareing, but forgits the licking.

Sum folks wonder whare awl the lies c.u.m from, but i don't, one good liar will pizen a whole country.

Hunting after fame iz like hunting after fleas, hard tew ketch, and sure tew make yu uneazy if yu dew or don't ketch them.

Menny people spend their time trieing tew find the hole whare sin got into this world--if two men brake through the ice into a mill pond, they had better hunt for sum good hole tew git out, rather than git into a long argument about the hole they c.u.m tew fall in.

Imaginashun, tew mutch indulged in, soon iz tortured into reality; this iz one way that good hoss thiefs are made, a man leans over a fence all day, and imagines the hoss in the lot belongs tew him, and sure enuff, the fust dark night, the hoss does.

If you must chaw terbacker, young man, for Heaven's sake, chaw old plugg, it iz the nastyest.

INK LINGS.

Truth iz like the burdocks a cow gits into the end ov her tail, the more she shakes them oph, the less she gits rid ov them.

Thare is 2 kinds ov men in this world, that i don't kare about meeting when i am in a grate hurry. Men whom i owe, and men who want to owe me.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INK LINGS.]

Thare iz always one chance agin the best laid plans ov man, and the Lord holds that chance.

Mi private opinyun about "abscence ov mind" is, that 9 times out ov 10, it iz abscence ov branes.

The flattery that men offer tew themselfs iz the most dangerous, bekause the least suspekted.

Take a kitten that kan hardly walk on land, and chuck him into a mill pond, and he will swim ash.o.r.e--enny boddy kan apply the moral in this.

The best philosophers and moralists i hav ever met, hav been thoze who had plenty to eat, and drink, and had money at interest.

It takes a wize man to suffer prosperity, but most enny phool kan suffer adversity.

Pride, after all, iz one ov our best friends--it makes us beleave we are better and happier than our nabors.

Before yu give enny man advise, find out what kind ov advice will suit him the best.

Knowledge is like money, the more a man gits the more he hankers for.

The vices and phollys ov grate men are never admired nor imitated bi grate men.

The trew art ov kriticism is tew excuse faults rather than ridikule them.

We hav no more right to laff at a deformed person, than we hav at a crooked tree--both ov them are G.o.d's arkitekture.

How strange it iz that most men had rather be flattered for possessing what they hav not, than to be justly praised for having what they possess.

Suavity ov manners towards men iz like suavity ov mola.s.sis toward flies, it not only calls them to you, but sticks them fast after they git thare.

Thare iz a grate deal ov charity in this world so koldly rendered that it fairly hurts, it iz like lifting a drowning man out ov the water bi the hair ov the hed, and then letting him drop on the ground.

Exchanging kompliments iz another name for exchanging lies.

The greatest thief this world haz ever produced iz _Procrastination_, and he is still at large.

Religion iz nothing more than a chattel mortgage, excepted, and rekorded, az sekurity for a man's morality, and virtew.

White lies are sed tew be innocent, but i am satisfied that enny man who will lie for phun, after a while will lie for wages.

The most valuable thing in this world iz Time, and yet people waste it as they do water, most of them letting it run full head, and even the most prudent let it drizzle.

The devil himself, with all hiz genius, allways travels under an alias--this shows the power of truth and morality.

If a dog falls in love with you at first sight, it will do to trust him--not so with a man.

One ov the hardest things to do is to be a good listener, thoze who are stone deaf succeed the best.

If you don't kno how to lie, cheat and steal, turn yure attenshun to pollyticks, and learn how.

Thare are men who seem to be born on purpose to step into every thing, they kant set a common rat trap without gitting ketched in it.

A sekret iz like an aking tooth, it keeps us uneasy until it iz out.

I hav larn't one thing, bi grate experience, and that iz, I want as much watching az mi nabors do.

The only way to larn sum men how to do enny thing, iz to do it yourself.

I don't rekoleckt now ov ever hearing ov two dogs fiteing, unless thare waz a man or two around.

A wize man is never so mutch alone, as when he iz in a crowd, and never so mutch in a crowd as when he iz alone.

I am satisfied that thare iz more weakness among men than malice.