of 19th century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (21 April 181814 October 1885). He was perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States
in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain
, although his reputation has not endured so well with later generations.
Shaw was born in Lanesborough
, Massachusetts
on April 20, 1818. His father was Henry Shaw
, who served in the United States House of Representatives
from 1817–21, and his grandfather Samuel Shaw
who also served in the U.S.
It is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so.
A secret ceases to be a secret if it is once confided—it is like a dollar bill, once broken, it is never a dollar again.
Love is like the measles; we can't have it bad but once, and the later in life we have it the tougher it goes with us.
Put an Englishman into the garden of Eden, and he would find fault with the whole blasted concern; put a Yankee in, and he would see where he could alter it to advantage; put an Irishman in, and he would want to boss the thing; put a Dutchman in, and he would proceed to plant it.
Better make a weak man your enemy than your friend.
Nature never makes blunders; when she makes a fool she means it.
I don't care how much a man talks, if he only says it in a few words.
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.
Poverty is the stepmother of genius.
"Familiarity breeds kontempt." This only applies tew men, not tew hot bukwheat slapkakes, well buttered and sugared.