Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1891 — Josh Billings’ Philosophy. [ARTICLE]

Josh Billings’ Philosophy.

Thare iz 2 kinds ov obstinacy—obstinacy in the right, and obstinacy in the wrong; one iz the strength ov a grate mind, and the other iz the strength of a little one. Lazjmess iz like mollassis, sweet and sticky. I think a bear in hiz claws iz preferable to one with gloves on. I kant tell now which i admire least, an old coquett or a young prude. ‘Misanthropy don’t pay; thare ain’t no man living whose hate the world cares one cuss for. Rash men ken be korrekted, but it don’t pay to labor with a phool. The man who haz never enjojed the plczzurc ov being forgiven haz missed one ov the greatest luxurj’s'ov life. I hav seen coquettry that had no more malice fli it than a ewe lamb frisking on {lie green. When i cum acrost a man who utters his opinyuns with immense deliberaslmn, and after they are uttered they don’t amount to ennything, I write him down “misteriou3 phool.” The grate cry ov the world now daze is, “What’s trumps.” Love iz a weakness; but it m is the same kind ov a weakness that repentance iz; both ov them are creditable tew our natures. A man iz hiz own best friend, and worst enemy. Jealousy iz one ov love’s parasites. We kan endure vices in the young that we should despise in the old. Pleaze make a note ov this, old phellows. Friendship iz like earthenware. If it iz broken it kan be mended; but love iz like a mirror—once broken, that ends it.