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Say good-bye er howdy-do—
What's the odds betwixt the two?
Comin'—goin'—every day—
Best friends first to go away—
Grasp of hands you'd ruther hold
Than their weight in solid gold,
Slips their grip while greetin' you,—
Say good-bye er howdy-do?

— James Whitcomb Riley

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More quotes by James Whitcomb Riley

The ripest peach is highest on the tree.

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

Old-Fashioned Roses (1889)

Just the wee cot—the cricket's chirr—
Love and the smiling face of her.

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

Old-Fashioned Roses (1889)

An’ the Gobble-uns ’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

Old-Fashioned Roses (1889)

All James Whitcomb Riley quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: James Whitcomb Riley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.