Quotes and quips about those “self-made men”

FAMOUS QUOTE: “In Kentucky, almost every manufactory known to me, is in the hands of enterprising and self-made men, who have acquired whatever wealth they possess by patient and diligent labor.”        Henry Clay (1777-1852)         U.S. Senator from Kentucky        Speech on the floor of the Senate on February 2, 1832        Often cited as the origin of the terms “self-made man”

HUMORIST’S COUNTERQUOTE: “Self-made men are most always apt to be a little too proud of the job.”        Josh Billings         Pen name of American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818-1885)        Quoted by Evan Esar in 20,000 Quips & Quotes (1968)

POLITICIAN’S COUNTERQUOTE: “He is a self-made man who worships his creator.”        John Bright (1811-1889)        British politician        His attributed quote about rival politician Benjamin Disraeli

AUTOCRAT’S COUNTERQUOTE: “Of course everybody likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all.”        Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894)        American physician and author        In his Autocrat at the Breakfast-Table (1858)

NOVELIST’S COUNTERQUOTE: “He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.”        Joseph Heller (1923-1999)        American novelist        In his novel Catch-22 (1961),        Describing the character Colonel Cargill

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *    

Comments? Questions? Corrections? Post them on my quotations Facebook group.