ON FREEMAN “BOOTS” HODGE
Boots was born either June 1st or June 2nd. The man with two birthdays. His mother Alice said it was the first. The state said otherwise. His mother wasn’t the kind of woman one
wanted to argue with. Neither was his
father. Flavius Hodge carried a gun on
his hip and rode a horse for transportation.
His grandmother was supposedly a Choctaw princess, his grandfather,
according to legend, was an outlaw on the run in the Oklahoma territory. These are only pieces of the early legend of
Freeman “Boots” Hodge. In truth, very
little was known about his grandparents on his father’s side. His father, Flavius was a half-breed who
didn’t own a car until the 1950s.
Evidently he wasn’t the kind of man you messed with.
Boots came from a big family. There were seven kids. They, like many families in those days, called
each other nicknames that stuck through the rest of their lives. His older sister’s name was Gal. Boots had a brother named Buster, who looked
almost identical to him after they’d both lost their hair and wore horn-rimmed
glasses. We thought we had two Grandpa
Boots the first time we saw him. “Two
Grandpa’s was like having two Santa Clauses!”
He had another brother named Pee-Wee and one named Buddy. Tobe and Pete didn’t get as colorful
nicknames but they were spoken about fondly by the rest of the family. They lived in New Mexico and western Texas
during the 1920s. This was the dustbowl. The hard times that followed him around for
his entire childhood began in those wild, untamed, arid climes. He grew up tough and quickly. He grew to have grit. He was put to work by the time he could mount
a horse, which was about around the time he could walk. They scraped and busted their tails from sun
up to sun down and still barely had a pot to piss in. He’d work all day only to find out the fella
he’d labored for didn’t have a dollar to give him. He’d sometimes have to settle for food or practical
items as forms of trade. Boots learned
early on how to be resourceful. He
also learned that family, a strong one, could survive anything.
The event that would end the challenging chapter of his childhood
would be World War Two. He enlisted and
was sent to the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal to be more
specific. Four of his brothers fought overseas
during the war. His family had no idea
where those boys were for three to four years.
Boots snuck a reference to the Bible and Solomon into one of his letters
and it made it past the censors. Alice
Hodge had dark hair when Boots left in 1942 and white when he got back in
1945. Boots never once talked about the
war. He never watched a single war
movie. He had nightmares so violent and
horrific that he rarely slept through the night without a violent episode. He remarked later that he was surprised and
grateful his wife Madie put up with him.
Madie was equally special in her temperament as he was and they made the
perfect couple. She was patient and kind
hearted to the ninth degree. Snippets gathered
from visiting war buddies over the years began to imply that Boots saw and
experienced the worst of the seven hells.
All he’d say about it was, “You
can have a unit of men march and fight through the jungle and when they come
out the other side you’ll have as many different versions of what happened as
there are men left to tell about it.” He
lost a lot of buddies in those jungles.
It is unclear but he once insinuated that he’d been a sniper of sorts
perched atop a jungle tree and taken out many a “Jap”. It was made to me in reference of his plan to
shoot a dog that was harassing his cattle.
He could put an eye out from some extraordinary distance was the initial
hint, and something along the lines of that’s what he did over there from a
treetop. One story he did relay openly to me on one of my
magical Sunday visits after his wife passed and I was in college, goes
thusly: He was unloading a ship and was
bringing a load to shore when the ship was struck by a torpedo and blown to
pieces right before his eyes. He’d
missed it by minutes. Another time he
ducked to tie a bootstrap and a shell flew right over his back. His unit was lost and he wondered around the
theater for a while, joining with different units along the way. He drove a bulldozer for one unit and may or
may not have had a pet monkey.
The years that followed the war were difficult ones for him
and his otherwise stoic resolve. He did
what he always did and sucked it up and moved through it. The first great step forward was meeting the
true love of his life, Madie Hudson in Whitharral Texas. After their first encounter she went home
and told her sister she’d met the man she was going to marry. He’d found his salvation.
He worked for a pipeline in east Texas when his first son Tom
was born. Sue followed a couple of years
later. Opportunity came for him to
start over in Missouri and so he moved his young family north and built from
scratch a new life. They lived in tiny
shacks or at one point a barn. He
worked all the time and saved his money.
When Madie’s family came to visit they asked her what she was doing
living in a barn? But Boots promised her
that if she’d stick it out he’d build her a house on some nice land. It is unclear if he had his entire vision for
his future then or if it came to him over time, but he eked out a living and
finally was able to purchase a large plot of land that butted up to the
Oklahoma boarder. During the war the
government had mined the larger older trees and what was left was underbrush and
saplings. There was a tiny two-room
shack with an outhouse surrounded by budding forest upon rocky ground. Again his family and hers wondered if he’d
lost his mind. What could he do with
that forsaken place? He worked
construction by day and built Madie her house by night. It took him awhile but he built that house practically
by himself. Tom, who was at the time ten
years old and ready for serious labor, helped him. Madie also worked her fingers to the bone to
make that vision come true. Sometimes a
curious neighbor (by neighbor I mean a person who lived two miles away) would
stop by and help out. People were like
that then. Plus Boots, an imposing
cowboy right out of the movies with his homespun philosophy and strong commonsense
approach, made a good first impression that lasted a lifetime. People automatically respected Boots. While he was working construction all those
years he’d stick around when the plumber would show up and he’d watch him work
and ask him questions. He did this with all
the contractors until finally by the time he built his own house he knew how to
do it all himself. For a man with an
eighth grade education he was a brilliant engineer. He could envision something in his mind and
make it into reality. He never understood
why no one in his family inherited that ability. If he set his mind to something consider it
done, no matter how ambitious.
When the house was completed Boots built a chicken coup and
a milk barn. He bought some chickens and
a milk cow and set about making his property self-sufficient. He plowed a garden and Madie worked it
during the summers. He called it his
garden of life. He explained how the
garden of life sustains us. Perhaps it
was his Choctaw blood but he was a spiritual fellow even when thinking about
something as mundane as a garden. He’d
tell Tom how the garden of life needed to have vegetables and things to sustain
us but it also needed a watermelon. And
it was also very important to keep the weeds out of your garden. He meant figuratively and literally. He also planted roses. The garden of life needed roses, too. Tom
spent more time with him than almost anybody and was the recipient of much of
Boot’s profound wisdom. They’d be
working beside one another, usually for long distances of silence, when all of
sudden Boots would straighten up and look off into the distant trees. He’d sigh and say, “Son…” And Tom would stop and look up at him. “Don’t pick other people’s scabs.” Tom would nod and they’d both go back to work.
Tom would work out what he meant by that
and come away with the truth beneath the odd comment. Everyone has scabs in their life, leave them
alone and let them heal. One of Tom’s
many jobs was to herd the cattle up to the barn. Boots would warn him not to stand behind
those cows. “They’ll kick the devil out
of you.” But sure enough, one day Tom
was in a hurry and one kicked him square in the gut. It knocked him to the ground where he writhed
in pain, unable to catch his breath.
Boots walked past him and with his southern drawl said, “Well, I told ya
not to get behind ‘em cows.” Life was a
lesson. Tom didn’t have a curfew in high school. If he came home late Boots would find
something important for them to do at four in the morning. Do what you want, but be ready to live with
the consequences, was his philosophy. He’d
later turn those lessons into personal cards that he would send his children
and grandchildren in the mail. He sent this
to his daughter Patty, my mother, when she was an adult with four kids.
“Good Judgment comes from experience, a lot of that
comes from bad judgments. Whenever you
see darkness there is an extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn
brighter. -Good luck with your back – Dad.”
Boots worked construction and his business partner
was an old cowboy from Texas who’d made a lot of money in oil. His name was Mr. Smith. One of Boot’s favorite stories to tell was
about this colorful man. Mr.
Smith drove an old beat-up pickup truck and wore overalls, looking like a dusty
old farmer. The guy from the bank was there and Mr. Smith pulled up in his old
truck and looking like he just milked a cow and the banker tried to warn Boots
about going into business with that guy.
Boots didn’t say anything but, “Oh-kay,” and the banker told him he’d
look into Mr. Smith for him to make sure he wasn’t making a mistake. Boots
smiled and let him do the research needed to explain Mr. Smith’s economic
status. The banker came driving up, he
jumped out and said, “You definitely should go into business with this
guy. You have any idea how much he’s
worth?” Boots just smiled. He did not
believe in putting on heirs. It was the
sign of a weak man to try to impress others with his wealth or style. “You can send a fool to college but all
you’ll get is an educated fool.”
He wore the same denim shirt for as long as I could
recall. I later found out he had several
denim shirts that all looked alike.
Cowboys boots, faded blue jeans, denim shirt with snap buttons because
he’d cut his thumb off when he was an apprentice in Texas, large white, or
slightly yellowed cowboy hat, this was his uniform.
The thumb story is a famous one in the legend of Boots
Hodge. He sliced it off when he was an
apprentice in Texas. The story goes
that he sliced it off, picked up the severed piece, drove himself to the
hospital but they couldn’t sow it back on and so he stood there calmly, holding
the flap of skin against his hand while they stitched him up. His pain tolerance is a large part of his
legend. He never took pain pills no
matter how severe the injury. It wasn’t
that he had dulled nerve endings. His
tolerance came from a stubbornness of the mind, a mental toughness that refused
to let pain interfere with his day. He
was so disciplined in everything he did.
He believed in putting off or foregoing gratification for what needed to
be done. He was up at four o’clock every
morning and went about working his property all day long with a skip in his
step, because he was doing what he loved.
Eventually Boots grew weary of putting up with the fickle
mind of housewives changing their minds with the wind and so he brought home
four piglets and from there went into the hog business. It was here his brilliance and ingenuity
would shine. Tom recalls the first time
one of the pigs was giving birth, how it couldn’t handle the pain and chased
its rear end around in circles until finally giving birth and killing the
baby. Boots fattened that pig up and
sold her for her meat and then favored the pigs who gave birth easily and from
there he went from four pigs to four thousand.
He revolutionized the pig farming industry. He designed his operation in such a clever
way so that it would only take Tom and Boots to work the entire thing. Tom
shoveled a lot of hog manure and feed in his young life. Boots worked out a system for everything;
from how the barns where constructed to the alleyways and shoots. He realized that one of the biggest problems
facing pig mortality was newborns being rolled onto by the mothers. So he designed a trap door in the birthing
cages that opened for the baby to fall through into some straw under a heating
lamp. So in the spring when most
farmers were bringing three to four new pigs to the market, Boots brought a
dozen or more. He built a cage with two
decks for his truck to drive them all to market. He caught the notice of many people and a
few college professors of agriculture came to see the operation and to study
it. He made them change clothes before
they could go out there. He didn’t want
them getting his pigs sick.
While they worked extremely hard, Boots took his family on
at least one vacation every year.
They’d go to Colorado and Wyoming.
He’d have his nephews, who lived up the road, look after the farm. All the
while his hog business continued to expand.
He built what would later feel like an entire town on his property with
various sized barns and outbuildings. He
had it all organized with different sections for pigs recovering from giving
birth, to areas for fattening them up, to weaning them. After he retired from the business, his
abandoned pig town turned into a fantasyland for his grandchildren. It fueled my early imagination and we loved
to have all sorts of fantastical adventures out there. It was a magical place to grow up. For his
children they had hundred of acres to ride their horses. They explored the vast forest. Boots would say, if you get lost try to find
a fence and follow it home. There was a
spring fed pond with an enormous weeping willow tree that they’d swim in on hot
summer days.
When Tom was in high school he came to his dad, seated in
his favorite recliner, in the place it would remain for sixty years. Boots was reading the evening paper and Tom
told him he’d like to try football.
Boots didn’t say much, maybe grumbled from behind the paper, peaked over
the top and then went back to it. Tom,
feeling a bit rejected, shrugged and left the room. The next day, when Tom returned from school,
Boots handed him a pair of cleats. He
didn’t say anything else. So Tom went
on to try out for the team and he had his butt handed to him by an older
boy. He got pounded all week and began
to hate the idea of playing football.
He was later embarrassed to admit that he seriously thought about
quitting. But there were those damned
cleats. Those cleats weren’t in the
budget. Boots had stretched to get them. He was just starting out in his new pig
farming business and things were tight. Tom
stuck it out and eventually, after college, became the football coach in
Seneca. He was by far the most
successful coach in the history of that school and in fact one of the top in
the entire state of Missouri. He’s in the
Missouri sports hall of fame for coaching.
The stadium in Seneca is named, Tom Hodge Stadium. In a small southern town, high school
football is the NFL. Boots and his wife
Madie collected all the articles written about their son. They were both extremely proud of him.
Boots would send Tom, then in high school or when he’d come
back for summer break in college, to markets to buy up the runts and they’d
bring them back and Boots would shoot them with boosters and fatten them
up. He was always thinking of new ways
to improve his operation. He was at a
trade show many years later and saw his invention being demonstrated. He recognized the guy who claimed the patent
as one of the professors who’d visited.
The guy shrugged apologetically, and most likely frightened for his
life, but Boots shrugged it off. The guy
said, “I looked and you didn’t have a patent on it, so…” Boots had made plenty of money off of his
invention, he didn’t need the glory for it.
He wasn’t one to hold a grudge.
He’d say, “Don’t waste your time or your money feeding your
ego.”
He’d say, “The true measure of a man is how he
treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Or “The true measure of a man is how he
handles a crisis.”
He was in the hog business for twenty years before
debilitating headaches bothered him so much he decided to look into it. He’d had skin cancer and probably wondered if
the constant headaches weren’t something serious. He never told Madie or his kids when he went
to see his doctor but whenever he came back he explained that he was allergic
to the pigs’ dander and would be selling them off. He was going out of the hog business. It must have been a difficult decision to
make. But Boots sucked it up and made
it. The headaches must have been
horrendous for his pain tolerance.
Perhaps they were making him cranky?
He had grandkids by this point. He doted on them. He stopped cursing after I began to repeat
everything he’d say. He also stopped
drinking. He was never a hard drinker
but he’d have a beer each night; sometimes Jack Daniels. He gave it up to set an example to his
grandchildren.
He often remarked how the ghosts of his war buddies
would dance around his bed at night asking what went wrong with the country
they died for. In his mind his
generation spoiled their children, because they didn’t want them to have the
hard life they’d had, but it made them soft and weak and in turn they produced
children even more spoiled and soft. He
foresaw America’s decline from the world’s greatest country to the limp
bureaucratic nightmare it is today. He
didn’t think highly of politicians and the government. He worried about one world government. He said someday that’ll happen and we’ll all
be in trouble.
His retirement plan was based on an idea he’d had
perhaps all along; to section off his land into plots and to lease it to people
with bad credit or who weren’t able to get loans. When they would default he’d take the land
back, but if they could pay it off then it was theirs. Few of them did. His plan is now helping his children in
their retirements. One of his big
philosophies was about need versus want.
We only need a few things to sustain us. The rest is what we want. He’d say, “No luxury should be purchased with
debt. When people tell you they need something, usually they’re confused about
what that means.”
To say a few words for a man who put little stock in words
seems ironic. He said, “No
one can talk for more than five minutes without exposing the extent of his
ignorance.” He was a man of
action. He didn’t say I love you. He showed it. He wore the toughest exterior of any man I’ve
ever known, but beneath that cowboy hat there beat a warm and kind heart. That man loved his family. “Kodak would go out of business if it
weren’t for our family,” he’d say pointing with his half thumb at all the
pictures on his walls. As he got on in
years, he’d say it every time you saw him.
When his wife got sick he’d carry her up the stairs each
night for bed and carry her down again in the morning. When she was out of it towards the end, he
picked her up one afternoon and she looked up at him with love drunk,
teenager-eyes, all doughy and she said, “Wanna dance, cowboy?” And he let her stand on his feet and they
swayed back and forth for a moment and then he scooped her up and carried her
up those stairs and sat with her until she fell asleep. A large piece of him died when she did. But he was too sturdy to show it and he bit
his lip and his enormous adam’s apple would quiver and he mustered on. That was a special time for him and me. I was living in Joplin, going to school, and
every Friday Aunt Sue would take my laundry back to their house, she lived with
him, and I’d swing by every Sunday and pick it up and we’d have lunch and talk
for an hour or more and then I’d head on down to Neosho to see my parents. We did this every weekend for a year. We grew very close. He’d tell the stories he loved the most. They usually had multiple meanings and were
full of life lessons.
Boots truly was a living legend, by definition. He earned the respect of every man he’d
encountered. Boots Hodge. He was an inspiration, a guide, a cowboy guru. He was the cowboy John Wayne was pretending
to be. But at the end of the day John
Wayne was just Marion Morrison and Grandpa was still Boots Hodge.
“In the battle between the stone and the stream the stream
always wins because it’s persistent.” He’d write these nuggets of wisdom in his
famous cards. I don’t know that he came
up with all of those himself, if he’d picked them up along the way or what, but
he knew the importance of seeing the world in those types of terms.
Here’s a poem they found in this personal things.
My Self
By Freeman “Boots” Hodge
I have to live with
my self, and so
I want to be fit for
myself to know,
I want to be able as
days go by
Always to look myself
straight in the eye,
I don’t want to stand
with the setting sun
And hate myself for
the things I’ve done
I don’t want to keep
on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets
about myself,
And Fool myself as I
come and go
Into thinking that
nobody else will know
The kind of man I
really am
I don’t want to dress
myself up in Sham
I want to go out with
my head erect
I want to deserve all
men’s respect
But here in this
struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to
like myself.
I don’t want to think
as I come and go
That I’m bluster and
bluff and empty show
I never can hide
myself from me
I see what others may
never see
I know what others
may never know
I never can fool
myself-and so
Whatever Happens I
want to be
Self Respecting and
conscience free
Boots
He was a man of extreme reason and intuition. He lived in a world of logic. If it didn’t make sense to him, then by God
he wouldn’t do it. And if it was
broken, then by God he could fix it. He did
things HIS way. He said to be happy; you
need to be your own boss. He said, don’t
follow the crowd, go your own way. Find
your own path. He taught us to think for
ourselves. Institutions were generally
bad ideas. The government had no right
to tell us what to do. He wouldn’t wear
his seatbelt in the hopes of being pulled over just so he could explain to the
cop what he thought about that particular communist law. He’d say, “I think the seatbelt is the best
invention since birth control, but the government has no right to tell a man,
who fought for his country, that he HAS to wear it.”
He taught us the
difference between religion and spirituality.
He didn’t need to go to church every Sunday. In fact he refused. He hated preachers. All but one, a man named Griff, who wasn’t anything
like any other preacher we’d ever known.
He was a special case and he earned the respect of Boots as he sat with
Madie as she died.
He was at Boot’s funeral and someone asked Griff if Boots
had asked him a lot of tough questions during those times. “No,” said Griff, “He pretty much just told
me stuff.”
Boots found God sitting on a stump at sunrise on his back
forty watching a deer graze in the distance.
The irony to me was that people were always trying to “save” him. If you
were at his funeral and saw the amount of love and adoration being given to
that great man, then maybe those folks would have all done better to follow his
example. Who needed to save who? Was he perfect? Of course not. No one is.
Like everyone he was flawed, but that’s what made him who he was. But damn if he wasn’t a very good human to
live up to.
He was an idol, a legend, a hero to his family and that
extended beyond blood. Boots was very active in the Warrens Branch
Community, serving many years on the school board. He was one of the original founders and
leaders of ‘Busy Beavers’ 4-H Club. He’d
host mini rodeos on his land called shodoes. He’d plow the ground to make it
softer and the kids would ride calves and horses. He coached Tom’s baseball team and when they
won first place he made it clear he didn’t want his name on that trophy. It wasn’t about him. He was a selfless man to the core.
We found the drafts for a few of the cards he’d sent to
everyone and I’d like to include this here for posterity. The following are the words of Boots Hodge to
his family.
“Boots-isms”
Tom & Sue
“A hundred years from now, it won’t matter what my
bank account was. The sort of house I
lived in, or the kind of car I drove.
But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a
child.”
Tom & Merlene
“The most certain sign of wisdom is to make your
home a refuge from the rest of the world.”
Sue
“It is loving and giving that make life worth
living.
And giving that love to children can make a
difference in their life forever. You
can do a great job at that.”
- Have a good day
-Dad
Patty
“Good Judgment comes from experience, a lot of that
comes from bad judgments. Whenever you
see darkness there is an extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn brighter.
“
-Good luck with your back – Dad
“When you come to the end of your rope tie a knot
and hang on. Everyone gets the same 24
hours in a day, the difference is how you use it.”
Bobbie, Patty & Tera
“Just be yourself and never look back and don’t take
life or death too seriously. Making it
in life is kinda like busting bronc’s.
Your going to get thrown a lot, the secret is getting back on.”
-Just an old Cowboys way of looking at it. Grandpa
Boots
Pam
“By changing the inner attitudes of their minds,
can change the outer aspects of their lives.
Never take the advice of someone who has not had that kind of trouble.”
-I think you have proven that, just be your own
person you can’t please everyone.
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone
who can do him absolutely no good.”
Merlene
“Anyone who says raising kids is not the most
difficult job in the world is not doing it right. Memories are your most valuable possessions.”
Travis
“There is not half the pleasure in processing an
object as in the effort to attain it.
Let go of the what-If, don’t put your life on
hold.
Trust your hopes not your fears.
Optimism is a gift
The most certain sign of wisdom is a positive
outlook.”
Marcy
“Grab happiness in the passing moments of life and
never look back.”
“Never feel lonely in the kitchen, food is very
friendly.”
“Treat your kids like you wanted your parents to
treat you”
Mark
“Happiness is a byproduct of an effort to make
someone else happy. The most wasted days
are the days when we have not laughed. A
happy marriage puts the marriage before the children. Two people loving equally
is a rare occurrence.”
Tera
“You’ve got to be original, because if you are like
someone else what do they need you for?”
Scott W.
“No matter what kind of backgrounds two men are
from, if you go ‘Hey man, women are crazy’ you got a friend”
Josh and Amy
“Love begins in the eyes and quickly goes to the
heart, and only sometimes ends up in the brain.” – Boots
Eric
“The greatest conflicts are not between two people
but between one person and himself.”
Ryan
“Not everything can be made sense of
Your Eyes are the windows of your soul.
We are sometimes taken into troubled waters not to
drown, but to be cleansed.
Use your memory to make your life more
enjoyable.
Look back at your ancestors for strength; carry a
can-do attitude with you.
Banish the word ‘cannot’ from your vocabulary;
every person is born with a talent.
A good idea is usually risky,
The door to success is always marked ‘Push’
Contentment is worth more than Riches.”
Lacy
“Be afraid only of standing still. Grab happiness in the passing moments of
life. We are sometimes taken into
troubled waters, but not to drown but to learn how to swim. Sometimes things that hurt-teach skill and
confidence are an unconquerable force.
Every person is born with a talent, use it.”
“Don’t be discouraged by your mistakes. Accept the good and run with it. Opportunity sometimes knocks very
softly. Surround yourself with things
that make you smile.”
Ross
“We are all treasure chests of talents. In Sights and remarkable gifts we are judged
by what we finish, not on what we start.
The secret of success is doing something you love.”
Tayler
“Never grumble, it makes you as welcome as a snake
at a picnic. Its best to keep your
troubles pretty much to yourself cause half the people you tell them to won’t
give a damn, and the other half will be glad to hear you have them.”
“Follow your hearts’ desire and it will lead you to
great adventures. For when you follow
your heart life becomes joyful.”
Britnie
“You must do crazy things once in awhile to keep
from going nuts. Just don’t do anything
that conflicts with common sense. The
best advice is don’t give it.”
Hudson
“Hey a true friend will tell you when your hats on
backwards, just how did you get so stupid, well maybe it’s the company I keep.”
Hayden
“Its better to have one good friend than many
acquaintances. The most certain sign of
wisdom is a positive outlook of a person is defined by what he makes of himself
during his lifetime.”
Charlie
“Most folks are like a bob-wire fence. They have their good points. Nobody ever drowns himself in his own
sweat. Never joke with mules or cooks as
they have no sense of humor.”
More….
“Today you don’t have to lift a finger, you are
royalty, the hero of the day. You don’t
know about war, poverty or disease, you only know love, enjoy the moment.”
-Grandpa Boots
“If you have a loving family its amazing what you
can do without.”
“Don’t pet a porcupine unless you are looking for
trouble. Life is an emotional journey.”
“No luxury should be purchased with debt”
“Never sacrifice your principles to please anyone”
“Aim at fulfilling whatever talents you have
inherited.”
“Having an education is different than having plain
ol’ horse sense.”
“You can ruin the present by worrying about the
future”
“A stumble may prevent a fall. Don’t put your life on hold”
“Trust your hopes not your fears”
“Just be yourself and never look back, and don’t
take life or death too seriously. Love
all, trust a few, do wrong to none, your eyes are the windows to your soul.”
“Knowledge is a precious treasure that cannot be
given away nor stolen.”
“After you climb to the top of the wall don’t kick
over the ladder”
“Good fortune is usually the result of wisdom and
hard work, not luck.”
“Optimism is a gift”
“There is no security on this earth only
opportunity”
“Its no disgrace to fall down, the disgrace is not
getting up and going ahead.”
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake
up”
“An imagination can make reality more joy able”
“Its easier to accept love than to give it”
“Wisdom is sometimes disguised as foolishness”
“Don’t waste your time or your money feeding your
ego”
“Just remember don’t pursue happiness, create it.”
“Kids need more hugs than they need things.”
“The greater the obstacles the more glory in over
coming it.”
“You can never go wrong when you follow your
dreams.”
“Never play leap frog with the unicorn”
“Never pet a porcupine.
If you carry yourself like a beauty people will
think of you as one.”
“You can never step in the same river twice you can
just about always stand more than you think you can.”
“No one can talk for more than five minutes without
exposing the extent of his ignorance.”
“Watch what happens to a wagon when one wheel comes
off”
“A good reputation cannot be bought for any amount
of money”
“Intelligence is not enough, using intelligence
wisely is the key”
“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
“Happiness comes from a persons character”
“The squeaky wheel will be the first to get the
grease, but if it keeps on squeakin’, it’ll be the first one to be replaced.”
