Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

James Whitcomb Riley Writer

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Oct 7, 1849
  • Died: Jul 22, 1916

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man".

Riley began his career writing verses as a sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to an endorsement from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the latter 1870s. Riley gradually rose in prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest, and then nationally, holding shows and making joint appearances on stage with other famous talents. Regularly struggling with his alcohol addiction, Riley never married or had children, and created a scandal in 1888 when he became too drunk to perform.

The anger of a person who is strong, can always bide its time. anger

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck. nature

Mother's Day May 12, 2025

Motherhood: All love begins and ends there. 22 quotes from Robert Browning

22 quotes from Robert Browning

A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories. 53 more quotes from Honore de Balzac

53 more quotes from Honore de Balzac

With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood. 5 other sayings from Isadora Duncan

5 other sayings from Isadora Duncan

The babe at first feeds upon the mother's bosom, but it is always on her heart. 58 quotes from Henry Ward Beecher

58 quotes from Henry Ward Beecher