James Whitcomb Riley Quotes

• To make the world a friendly place, one must show it a friendly face.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Friendly, World, Faces

  33 Copy quote

• Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence and determination will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Motivational, Determination, Persistence

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• The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Motivational, Perseverance, Determination

  40 Copy quote

• I cannot say, and I will not say
  That he is dead. He is just away.
  With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand,
  He has wandered into an unknown land
  And left us dreaming how very fair
  It needs must be, since he lingers there.
  And you - oh you, who the wildest yearn
  For an old-time step, and the glad return,
  Think of him faring on, as dear
  In the love of There as the love of Here.
  Think of him still as the same. I say,
  He is not dead - he is just away.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Death, Dream, Husband

  James Whitcomb Riley (1982). “The Best of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.107, Indiana University Press

  20 Copy quote

• The ripest peach is highest on the tree

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Tree, Peaches, Fruit

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.224, Indiana University Press

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• When you awaken some morning and hear that somebody or other has been discovered, you can put it down as a fact that he discovered himself years ago - since that time he has been toiling, working, and striving to make himself worthy of general discovery.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Time, Morning, Discovery

  17 Copy quote

• But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock-When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Morning, Autumn, Air

  James Whitcomb Riley (1994). “Little Orphant Annie and Other Poems”, p.25, Courier Corporation

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• It is no use to grumble and complain; It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice; When God sorts out the weather and sends rain - Why, rain's my choice.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Rain, Positive Attitude, Weather

  James Whitcomb Riley, “Wet Weather Talk”

  12 Copy quote

• I love the horse from hoof to head. From head to hoof and tail to mane. I love the horse as I have said - From head to hoof and back again.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Horse, Tails, Said

  24 Copy quote

• Tell you what I like the best -
  'Long about knee-deep in June,
  'Bout the time strawberries melts
  On the vine, - some afternoon
  Like to jes' git out and rest,
  And not work at nothin' else!

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Summer, June, Long

  James Whitcomb Riley (1982). “The Best of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.121, Indiana University Press

  29 Copy quote

• O, it sets my heart a clickin' like the tickin' of a clock, when the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Fall, Heart, Autumn

  James Whitcomb Riley (1895). “The Days Gone by and Other Poems”

  18 Copy quote

• Oh, the world's a curious compound, with its honey and its gall, With its cares and bitter crosses, but a good world after all. And a good God must have made it-leastways, that is what I say, When a hand is on my shoulder in a friendly sort of way.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Hands, Curiosity, Friendly

  5 Copy quote

• One naked star has waded through
  The purple shallows of the night,
  And faltering as falls the dew
  It drips its misty light.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Stars, Fall, Night

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.147, Indiana University Press

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• Think of him still as the same, I say, He is not dead, he is just - away.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Thinking, Death Of A Loved One, Loved Ones

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.313, Indiana University Press

  19 Copy quote

• As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone,
  And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known,
  So I turn the leaves of Fancy, till in shadowy design
  I find the smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Life, Design, Albums

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.28, Indiana University Press

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• I don't know how to tell it--but ef such a thing could be
  As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me--
  I'd want to 'ccommodate 'em--all the whole-in-durin' flock--
  When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Angel, Frost, Ems

  James Whitcomb Riley, “When The Frost Is On The Punkin”

  15 Copy quote

• The jelly - the jam and the marmalade, And the cherry-and quince-'preserves' she made! And the sweet-sour pickles of peach and pear, With cinnamon in 'em, and all things rare! And the more we ate was the more to spare, Out to old Aunt Mary's! Ah!

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Sweet, Food, Aunt

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.315, Indiana University Press

  29 Copy quote

• Who bides his time tastes the sweet Of honey in the saltiest tear; And though he fares with slowest feet Joy runs to meet him drawing near.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Running, Sweet, Drawing

  James Whitcomb Riley, “Who Bides His Time”

  5 Copy quote

• And the sun had on a crown
  Wrought of gilded thistledown,
  And a scarf of velvet vapor
  And a raveled rainbow gown;
  And his tinsel-tangled hair
  Tossed and lost upon the air
  Was glossier and flossier
  Than any anywhere.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Hair, Rainbow, Tangled

  James Whitcomb Riley (2010). “Riley Child-Rhymes with Hoosier Pictures”, p.106, Indiana University Press

  13 Copy quote

• Long about knee-deep in June,
  'Bout the time strewberries melts
  On the vine.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Summer, June, Long

  James Whitcomb Riley, “Knee-Deep In June”

  8 Copy quote

• Somebody's sent a funny little valentine to me. It's a bunch of baby-roses in a vase of filigree, And hovering above them ... is a fairy cupid tangled in a scarf of poetry.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Baby, Valentine, Tangled

  James Whitcomb Riley, Edmund Henry Eitel (1913). “The complete works of James Whitcomb Riley: in which the poems, including a number heretofore unpublished, are arranged in the order in which they were written, together with photographs, bibliographic notes and a life sketch of the author”

  9 Copy quote

• He is not dead, he is just - away.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Memorial

  James Whitcomb Riley (1915). “The James Whitcomb Riley Reader: Selected, Graded, and with the Suggestions for the Observance of Riley Day”

  4 Copy quote

• Just a wee cot-the crickets chirr-love and the smiling face of her.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Love, Justice, Faces

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.357, Indiana University Press

  4 Copy quote

• O'er folded blooms On swirls of musk, The beetle booms adown the glooms And bumps along the dusk.

  James Whitcomb Riley

  Bumps, Swirls, Musk

  James Whitcomb Riley (1993). “The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley”, p.148, Indiana University Press

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