Steven R

Issue 3:2 | Non-Fiction | Steven R. Cope

Mountain Proverbs from The Appalaches
Steven R. Cope

The worst thing about pavement is that it obliterates so many metaphors.
The barn is more evocative than the pyramid.
It is a painful thing to love a rabbit.
The most ignorant are the most convinced.
It is a given that animals are wiser than humans, and insects are perfect geniuses.
A man without work very soon begins to fancy himself an anarchist.
Love is the most painful of emotions, sometimes calling for a crucifixion.
Some June bugs are born in July.
To keep from smothering, it is sometimes advisable to fly directly into the wind.
To become dirt is not such a bad thing; it is the only state of being where some folks bear fruit.
A man with little sense sometimes has a remarkable smile.
Holding grudges against an idiot is like watering a post.
If one is in doubt whether to speak, by all means one should not.
If a dog meows, something is afoot.
One who struggles with walking straight may very soon be moved to fly.
The fault of most poets is their prose.
Loneliness is better than drowning.
Most dreams fortunately do not come true; but the dreams themselves sustain.
It is a good sign when the birds sing in the morning; it means one's ears are still working.
The crow does not feel slighted when the canary is preferred for the cage.
Most inferior works are inspired.
A true student will learn despite his teachers.
There are only so many ways one can wait, and then one quits waiting.
As one ages, the writers one used to love can't write.
A man who does not know his god will be barraged by gods.
Prefer hoeing corn to switching channels.
If three doesn't work, try four.
Better to get dirty and wash than to stay clean and never wash.
When there's a knock at your door, don't answer the phone.
When opening a locked door, make sure it's your door.
It takes more than a smart man to figure out there is no god; it must come by divine revelation.
One should not pass through Dallas if one is headed north from Dayton.
If we are to believe the drug ads, a headache doesn't stand a chance.
Pursue happiness all right, but know happiness is in the pursuing.
Animals know something.
Every poet should have at least a butterfly poem; how could such innocence not enthrall?
There's a drug for it.
Once you are at the top, your next step becomes more obvious.
What you learn from birds will be a secret, for most of it will be inexpressible.
If aware of his own dimensions, a man is not so quick to step on a bug.
Life is tough enough; do not add to another's pain.
The mouse is maligned beyond all reason.
After all is said and done, shut up and sit down.
A mountain will begin to teach the instant it comes into view.
Know who wrote it.
If your goose is cooked, you may not be living in this century.
Find the right spot to dig; the wrong spot can waste a lifetime.
A good dog will make you wonder about your kids.
A snake in one's path has not broken any law; nor a spider on one's toilet seat.
A mountain man in a tuxedo is a mountain man.
If one knew it would take forever, one probably would not have gone.
Retirement is the time to go to work.
It is a relatively wise creature who does not take up yodeling.
A poet without music is easily recognized; there's a lurch in his stride, as if he walked with blister.
Better to sit on a burr than to chair a committee.
If the time is right, let it happen.
If one must be downtrodden, one might at least wear a helmet.
The writer has more to keep him occupied than the average job-hunter.
In the puzzle of life only an occasional piece can be cut down to fit.
Kentucky should not be Ohio.
Remove the shell.
A well-placed statue fosters illusion.
A jar of anything needs a lid.
Honor cicadas along with Mozart.
Destroy the mountain and destroy the culture.
Sitting on the front porch is a godly pastime whose merits have been forgotten.
Night in an Appalachian hollow can be duplicated nowhere else on earth or in heaven.
Pets are designed to wake you up so they can go to sleep.
A squirrel in rain is worth a ransom to an old mountain man in a trailer park.
The natural earth can tear at the heart, what with its equal proportions of frailty and strength.
A riding mower for a 10 x 12 lot may be taking a good thing too far.
Sleep eight hours a day; otherwise at night you'll be tired.
If a thing is planted it will grow, but it will take its own merry time doing it.
Nature will put a thing in its place.
Don't think less of a creek that's full of tires and commode seats; it really cannot help what kind of trash comes to pollute it.
Sooner let your child eat dirt than watch television all day.
There is something about animals God has not told us yet.
Don't worry about anything; it will be bad enough without you worrying.
Childhood is half keepsake and half trash; adulthood is for sorting it all out.
Every Jonah has his whale.
Help may not be on the way.
Everything that comes out a spout is not pure enough for babies.
Better to give a thing away than live in fear it might be stolen.
2 X 2 is 4, before taxes.
Old folks are worth the time.
The youngest man I ever knew was eighty-six in his stocking feet.
Philosophers have always had to settle for just a little sniff of what they loved.
If you've got one, don't lord it over those who haven't.
Don't tickle a bear when it's down.
Fastidiously clean people miss a lot of good dirt.
The earth will rebel; it has already objected.
In one mountain there are many faces.
The path through the woods will never be the same.
Tai Chi is silly to most rednecks; that's why so many of us stay so fit well into our 20's.
Oh Lord, after a rain, such singing!
Sleep occasionally in loose hay; it will remind you of your origins.
It is no consolation to the artist that the philosopher also is poor.
One might perhaps get one's point across if one's eyes were not bulging and one's arms were not flailing about like a chicken.
Writers enjoy getting together and acting like writers.
When something is writ and the illustrations drew, one might ought next to proof the thing for eros.
A man in a tree has a motive.
In a child the senses are charged and ready; sit him in a field, not a mall.
If one almost plants his corn, the corn almost grows.
A puppy locked inside a trailer will let the neighbors know if it's self-aware.
Never deny a man a hayloft.
The half of anything has not been told.
A story never has an ending; the trick is to convince that it does.
Buddha is dead.
If our culture is to be saved, we must again be taught to read.
If you have two words in your head, you will think with two words.
Whittling is out of vogue; all the pocketknives have been confiscated.
A government is sometimes maintained by the cowardice of the governed.
The mind is the cause of all of man's unrest; if the man had no mind, he could spend his life watching television.
Reading sentimental poetry is like purposely wetting one's pants.
Compared to a block, a rock is oozing with personality.
Modern man despises mistreatment of animals; thus in every modern film only humans are murdered.
By all means sue if your diaper leaks, and tack on a couple million for emotional trauma.
The hillbilly image is a great joy, as is the pantywaist from the city.
What one knows of the mountain will color everything else one knows.
One should do his whining in private.
The polluter of a stream should be made to swim in his own wee-wee.
The miracle of our country is that it's still here.
The history of man is so brief; one forgets that the earth can do quite well without us.
One not puzzled by life has not considered it.
The first seed was a word.
All things are vanity, but one must get through the day.
The thrust toward light is in common.
A man with a hammer can be a godsend to a man with a nail.
While he waits for the boiling, a man might butter his toast.
Without conformity troubles come; with conformity troubles come.
Integritas is an old Latin word that served us well in the past.
It is in refusing to bend that even the gnarled bough is broken.
To a certain kind of man, rain on the face is not a bad thing.
One might at least read the book when it's purported to be holy.
When a man has bees and no children, that man will grieve over his bees.
A fire in the heart is worth a slew of dreams and visions.
There's nothing like a mountain to teach a man right where to stand.
The obvious distinction between all creatures is not in the head but the tail.
If you want to be buried in a pyramid, you may be in for a rude awakening.
A county famous for its grass will find a means to destroy it.
Get to the bottom of your suffering.
A knob on a door is useless, unless it be turned.
Don't bait your hook before arriving at the pond.
One will rarely be loved as much as one loves one's pet.
There is a vast difference between how you perceive your god and how your god perceives you.
If you can sing, sing; if you can't sing, sing.
Clothes shrink if you don't wear them for a year or two.
When humans are brutish, the weaker creatures have no defense.
A sunrise is an illustration.
It is the weak, not the strong, who are destined to rule.
There is no end.
If a man's place is changed, the man is changed.
Have mercy.
In the long run, it will cost more if you don't pay for it.
Life is shorter than at first realized.
Animals have given up wondering what on earth we are doing.
The myth is closer to the truth than the history.
A man with a mint will think he's ready for love.
Those who preach oneness with nature have never been one.
In every religion is error, for they are all this side of the grave.
There is a sort of humanoid who would destroy a mountain for a nugget, drain the sea for a pearl, annihilate a species for a tusk.
There comes a time in a man's life when he simply must wash his dishes.
A cowboy without his hat is very likely the real thing.
Too many pockets tend toward confusion.
It is a rare tree that sins.
Most editors will be looking for what one is not writing.
Men who cut tops off of mountains need to be baby-sat.
Drink a little water; it washes the lead from the pipes.
Citizens are not whipping boys.
Choose your flaws wisely.
Something will come, if the wait doesn't kill you.
Everything that matters is veiled.
Everything above the ground comes from the ground.
Subtleties cannot be taught.
If one cannot sleep, one needs to find something less strenuous to do.
The way a ball rolls, one would think it was made for it.
A tattoo on his chest does not make a stock boy a head hunter.
Every man is looking for the woman who will give him the respect he does not deserve.
It takes several millennia to evolve a dingo into a chili dog.
A child will know soon enough how rare the dream that comes true; let him dream of being a sauce pan.
If nothing comes of it, it's rarely because of too much work being applied.
A flea with a mosquito bite has got the mother of all itches.
The minutest creature in the sea also sings like the whale, and also has its listeners.
There is a longing in everyone that can neither be defined nor diminished; it is that longing that should bind us close.
A state that cannot keep its river clean should not be permitted a river.
If a mink is seeing a muskrat, they'll be the talk of the watershed.
A grave man could use some flowers.
A fire in the tail will affect the whole body.
To pass the time, a man can always revise his attributes.
Set aside some time for the future.
One should perhaps shop around a bit before carpeting one's cave.
A crack in the pavement will soon bring forth a forest.
A train whistle in the distance will hark a man back.
Don't write someone else's book.
Do not count on a pension; count on enduring.
Two pints make a quart; two quarts make a drunk.
Park in the shade.
One of the greatest pleasures in life is a sharpened pencil.
In a roomful of clowns, a clown will be the status quo.
The clutter will get you.
If you don't do it in this life you won't do it in the next.
The first one is the best one.
The first one is the worst one.
There will not always be somebody there.
To see what's beyond you, come to the end of yourself.
Consider the life beneath the asphalt.
A man in a coonskin cap will ten to one have a tale.
Live your life as if you knew how.
A show of religion is no different than any other show.
The impulse to buzz is one of nature's whimsical touches.
If you've got your ducks in a row, any injuries incurred are certainly your responsibility.
The appearance of an object may not be an object, but then again, you may not even be reading this.
A skeptic might believe in something if he could just put his finger on it; a nihilist would doubt the finger.
A democracy is good, though someone is sure to vote for Hitler.
God believes in God.
A boy with a dog can do without a lot else.
Suffering is inherent.
One truly living today will not want yesterday or tomorrow.
A yard being mowed in the distance is an American sound; the wind in the hardwoods is a Native-American sound.
To get through life without scars, one must die very young.
Don't quit.
The water will be pure until there's a movement toward progress.
Thank God the truth cannot be known; otherwise we'd spend our lives trying to find it.
Thank God it doesn't matter which lie a man swallows, so long as he is sincere in swallowing it.
When a thing is finished, a thing is done.