WIST Quotations

Higley, Brewster -- “My Western Home,” Smith County Pioneer (1873-11)

Dave — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:31:43 +0000

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Brewster Higley (1823–1911) American physician, poet
“My Western Home,” Smith County Pioneer (1873-11)
(Source)

Set to music by Daniel Kelley (1843-1905), a friend of Higley's. The song was published in 1910 by John Lomax in Cowboy Songs as an anonymous cowboy tune, and revised and retitled by David Guion for a Broadway show in 1930. It became widely popular when President Franklin Roosevelt said in 1933 that it was a favorite of his.

The oldest extant published version is in the Kirwin Chief, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1876-02-26). The lyrics for this verse are the same, except the final line, which reads "And the sky is not clouded all day."

In 1847, it was made the state song of Kansas by the legislature.

More information about this song see:

Verne, Jules -- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Part 1, ch. 18 “Vanikoro” (1870) [tr. Smith & Co. (1873)]

Dave — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 15:49:45 +0000

The Earth does not want new continents, but new men.

[Ce ne sont pas de nouveaux continents qu’il faut à la terre, mais de nouveaux hommes!]

Jules Verne (1828–1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Part 1, ch. 18 “Vanikoro” (1870) [tr. Smith & Co. (1873)]
(Source)

Ch. 19 in the French text.

Alt. trans.: "The planet doesn't need new continents, it needs new men." [Miller (1966)]

Kennedy, John F. -- Speech (1960-07-15), “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:38:25 +0000

Some would say that those struggles are all over — that all the horizons have been explored — that all the battles have been won — that there is no longer an American frontier.
But I trust that no one in this assemblage would agree with that sentiment. For the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won. And we stand today on the edge of a new frontier — the frontier of the Nineteen Sixties — the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils — the frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech (1960-07-15), “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
(Source)