The Timeless Wit of Will Rogers

I’m Mike Dreith and Talk Isn’t Always Cheap.

I came across some quotes recently by the legendary Will Rogers, and my, I think they travel well into our present time….even though he uttered them almost a century ago.

Try some of these Rogers-isms on for size:

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”

Or “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”

Rogers loved poking fun at the political establishment and those in positions of power in Washington. To wit, he once said: “The short memory of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” And “A fool and his money are soon elected,”

His advice is something told to young investors the world over. It was Will Rogers who said, “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.”

And he was the master of humility, a few of his quotes spoke directly to me.

Quoting him now, “No man is great if he thinks he is.” And speaking as a devoted owner of two basset hounds, I relate to Rogers’ perspective when he said, “If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”

It is amazing how Will Rogers translates in 2018. Born in 1879, he died in a plane crash in 1935.  He was America’s first coast-to-coast radio personality. And there’s really been nobody like him since.

"I don't make jokes,” he said.  “I just watch the government and report the facts."

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

That’s my view and Talk Isn’t Always Cheap.