Robert Newton Peck Quotes & Sayings

Papa, ain't it a caution that we can only eat two legs off a frog, 'stead of four."
And he said: "Rob, here's what you do. You catch a real big bullfrog and make friends with him. And teach him to jump backwards. That'll make his front legs big as the hind. — Robert Newton Peck

Never miss a chance...to keep your mouth shut. — Robert Newton Peck

Fences sure are funny, aren't they, Papa?"
"How so?"
"Well, you be friends with Mr. Tanner and all. But we keep this fence up like it was war. I guess that humans are the only things on earth that take everything they own and fence it off. — Robert Newton Peck

There would be no work on this day. A day no pigs would die. — Robert Newton Peck

Try an' try," he said, "but when it comes day's end, I can't wash the pig off me. And your mother never complains. Not once, in all these years, has she ever said that I smell strong. I said once to her that I was sorry."
"What did Mama say?"
"She said I smelled of honest work, and that there was no sorry to be said or heard. — Robert Newton Peck

A good writer writes with a camera, not a pen. — Robert Newton Peck

Somehow, the Good Lord don't want to see no man start a cold morning with just black coffee. — Robert Newton Peck

No, sir. I won't complain. Except when I move it sharp and sudden, my arm is real numb. It's the rest of me that's in misery."
"Where?"
"My backside and my privates. I'm stuck so full of prickers, it makes me smart just to think on it. — Robert Newton Peck

The sky's a good place to look," he said. "And I got a notion it's a good place to go. — Robert Newton Peck

Need is a weak word. has nothing to do with what people get. Ain't what you need that matters. It's what you do. — Robert Newton Peck

Oh, Papa. My heart's broke. — Robert Newton Peck

I'd heard about the Baptists from Jacob Henry's mother. According to her, Baptists were a strange lot. They put you in water to see how holy you were. Then they ducked you under the water three times. Didn't matter a whit if you could swim or no. If you didn't come up, you got dead and your mortal soul went to Hell. But if you did come up, it was even worse. You had to be a Baptist. — Robert Newton Peck

We'd learned in school that the city of London, England, is the largest city in the whole wide world. Maybe so. But it couldn't have been much bigger than Rutland. — Robert Newton Peck

Writers, good ones, don't tell stories.
Characters show stories. — Robert Newton Peck

A Long Way from Chicago is the funniest book I have read in a while. You will enjoy the antics of Grandma and the love and dismay her grandchildren feel for her — Robert Newton Peck

When you re the only one to do something it always gets done. — Robert Newton Peck

It always looked to me like she was smiling. In fact, I know she was. Lots if things smile, like a flower to the sun. And one thing sure. I knew that just like I could smile to see Pinky, she sure could smile to see me. — Robert Newton Peck

A plot is two dogs and one bone. — Robert Newton Peck

I stayed there until the fire died. So it would not have to die alone. — Robert Newton Peck