Will Rogers was born in Indian Territory in what is today Oklahoma. The date was Nov. 4, 1879. He considered himself to be a Cherokee American. He liked to say: “My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat.” A good student, he dropped out of 10th grade. He bounced from job to job until he got a job as a rodel performer in Wild West Shows. He would do rope tricks. During a performance in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, a steer broke loose and headed for the audience. Rogers lassoed the cow and saved some spectators. He became famous and switched to vaudeville. He would tell jokes as he did his rope tricks. He was discovered and joined the famous variety show Ziegfeld Follies. He would do his rope tricks and comment on current events. His catch phrase was “all I know is what I read in the papers.” He joked about famous people and politicians, but his humor was not offensive. Although a Democrat, he was impartial in his ribbing. His most famous quote was “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Once President Woodrow Wilson was in the audience and Rogers roasted him. Wilson laughed along with everyone else. When Hollywood began making movies, Rogers took to the new medium. He made 71 movies, 48 were silent. Since his strength was his wit, he was better suited for “talkies”. He became the highest paid movie star. His most famous film was “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” This was ironice since Mark Twain wrote the story and Rogers was the next great humorist after Twain. Rogers also wrote a newspaper column called “Will Rogers Says”. It reached more than 40 million readers. He was a hit on radio, too. Rogers was an aviation enthusiast. He befriended Charles Lindbergh. He went around the world three times. Unfortunately his love of flying cost him his life. He was on a trip to Alaska with his pilot buddy Wiley Post when their plane crashed. He was 55-years-old.

Every time Congress makes a joke it’s law, and every time they make a law it’s a joke.

I don’t belong to an organized party, I’m a Democrat.

There is one thing in common with all revolutions (in fact they are pretty near like wars in that respect) nobody ever knows what they are fighting about.

A Man only learns by two things, one is reading, and the other is association with smarter people.

Ten men in the country could buy the world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat.

No man is great if he thinks he is.

Remember, write to your Congressman. Even if he can’t read, write to him.

What constitutes a life well spent, anyway? Love and admiration from your fellow men is all that any one can ask.

It takes nerve to be a Democrat, but it takes money to be a Republican.

The platform will always be the same, promise everything, deliver nothing.

Republicans take care of big money, for big money takes care of them.

A flock of Democrats will replace a mess of Republicans. It won’t mean a thing. They will go in like all the rest of ’em. Go in on promises and come out on alibis.

You’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.

If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.

Be a Politician—no training necessary.

It’s awful hard to get people interested in corruption unless they can get some of it.

The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.

In this country people don’t vote for, they vote against.

Imagine a man in public office that everybody knew where he stood. We wouldn’t call him a statesman, we would call him a curiosity.

I love animals and I love politicians. I like to watch both of ’em play either back home in their native state or after they have been captured and sent to a zoo or to Washington.

There is one rule that works in every calamity. Be it pestilence, war or famine, the rich get richer and poor get poorer. The poor even help arrange it.

In schools they have what they call intelligence tests. Well if nations held ’em I don’t believe we would be what you would call a favorite to win it.

Draft capital as well as men. Boys, there ain’t going to be no war.

Lots of people in Europe wondered how America could train men so quickly. Well, when you only have to train them to go only one way you can do it in half the time.

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.

A fanatic is always the fellow that is on the opposite side.

This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to do is to know when to die. Prolonged life has ruined more men than it ever made.

I hope we never see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it.

They were very religious people that come over here from the old country. They were very human. They would shoot a couple of Indians on their way to every prayer meeting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Will-Rogers

https://www.willrogers.com/quotes

Categories: Anecdote

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