Inspirational and Insightful Quotations #83 --- The Grouches

Thou shalt not carry thy grouch into the family circle, nor compel thy long suffering friends to listen to thy personal grievances.

---J. Webster Barley, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N.Y., Nov. 23, 1914.

A grouch is a public poison, a private pest, a neighborhood nuisance, a domestic evil.

---John Wesley Holland, Brookfield Courier, Brookfield, N.Y., June 5, 1929.

A smile goes a mile, but a grouch ends in “ouch!”

---Hazen Conklin, The Evening World, New York, N.Y., Feb. 19, 1915.

Have you a grouch? Get over it. Look on the other fellow’s side and you may make excuses for him. Think how little a matter it really is and try to realize that it should not be allowed to disturb the serenity of your mind.

---Lucius W. Nieman, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 30, 1911.

Clouds seldom part for the man who always looks down and nourishes his grouch.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 22, 1921.

You can’t digest your food well if you are grouchy at meal time.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 11, 1921.

You cannot get out of the rut before you come out of your grouch.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 21, 1921.

The man who complains is only advertising himself as a grouch who has failed.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 4, 1919.

The tragedy of life: There are only a few years between the time a man is called “a very promising young man” and the time he is called “an old-fashioned grouch.”

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 9, 1941.

A grouch always acts like a man celebrating the first anniversary of his death.

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 7, 1921.

If you have a grouch, try working it off. Working is a splendid panacea for several things.

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 30, 1922.

It’s too bad that some grouchy men are not as bad off as they think they are.

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 15, 1923.

A grouchy face can’t crack a smile without breaking it.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma Farmer, Guthrie, Okla., July 6, 1910.

A grouch always hurts the grouchy person most of all.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., July 4, 1908

An old grouch is as good as a new one if you are merely looking for trouble.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., July 17, 1909.

The individual who can be full of discontent as the holidays approach is more than a professional grouch.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., Dec. 20, 1910

The man with a grouch is known by his bark.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., Jan. 8, 1911.

A grouch is a disease. Some people refuse to be cured.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., March 14, 1911.

The man who never has a good word for anything or anybody is handicapped by the biggest known grouch.

---Frank Hilton Greer, Oklahoma State Capital, Guthrie, Okla., March 24, 1911.

The best remedy for a morning grouch is a kind word.

---Henry Edward Warner, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Oct. 16, 1915.

A perpetual grouch is almost as annoying as an endless giggle.

---Henry Edward Warner, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Sept. 1, 1922.

Complaints of gloomy skies come with peculiarly ill grace from the man who is a grouch in his own home. So far as he can, he emulates the weather man’s mistake.

---Henry Edward Warner, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Jan. 16, 1916.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Grouch and the world laughs at you.

---Lew B. Brown, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., Nov. 27, 1912.

A grouch is a fellow in whom the milk of human kindness has soured.

---Lew B. Brown, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., Aug. 24, 1914.

It is all right to have a grouch, provided you keep it to yourself.

---C.H. Browne, Madison County Monitor, Twin Bridges, Mont., Dec. 16, 1921.

The philosophy of the grouch is “hate thine enemy as thyself.”

---Charles A. Leedy, Lewiston Evening Journal, Lewiston, Me., Oct. 20, 1921.

You can’t get rid of your grouches by inflicting them on somebody else.

---Liston Dickson Elkins, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., April 20, 1938.

Few men can stand up under the load when they carry a grouch around with them.

---Liston Dickson Elkins, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., Oct. 25, 1938.

The only person who can argue with a grouch is another grouch.

---Liston Dickson Elkins, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., Sept. 15, 1945.

There is no real reason for thinking that being grouchy is a sign of being a good executive.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 9, 1929.

The only thing we get out of grouches is an additional load to carry.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., June 7, 1930.

When I work no day is long enough—when I grouch no day is short enough.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 11, 1930.

One who is in the habit of nursing grievances will always have a full hospital.

---Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Dec. 26, 1935.

It takes more than a gracious manner in the meeting to make up for a grouchy way in the home.

---Henry F. Cope, Dakota Farmer’s Journal, Dakota, S.D., April 10, 1908.

Grouch: The nursing of a sore spot. See pout.

---Robert Quillen, The Daily Star, Long Island City, N.Y., March 17, 1922.

As a rule, a grouch is just the triumph of a yellow streak over good nature.

---Robert Quillen, The Daily Star, Long Island City, N.Y., May 11, 1922.

A grouch is just liver complaint made vocal.

---Robert Quillen, The Daily Star, Long Island City, N.Y., Oct. 11, 1922.

The trouble with being a grouch is that you have to break in a new set of friends every few months.

---Beverly Gray, The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Oct. 18, 1946.

If ignorance really were bliss, all of the grouches should be happy.

---Earl L. “Jack” Sampson, Williamson Daily News, Williamson, W. Va., Jan. 13, 1950.

Nurse a grouch and it will soon grow strong enough to run off all your friends.

---W.C. Batchelor, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., Oct. 4, 1937.

An old grouch can be a nuisance of a fellow with a laugh that sounds like a horse.

---John Merrill Chilcote, St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, Mo., Oct. 31, 1949.

Grouch--A man who distrusts people who flatter him and dislikes those who don't.

---Lorrie Brooks, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, July 27, 1953.

Grouch--A man who feels dog tired at night because he growls all day.

---Lorrie Brooks, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, May 14, 1954.

Grouch--A man who has lost heart and has to depend wholly on his liver.

---Lorrie Brooks, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, March 8, 1956.

Grouch: A person who paid a compliment as if he expected a receipt.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, March 23, 1957.

Grouch: One who is seasick throughout life’s journey.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, April 29, 1957.

Grouch: A person who often misses opportunity when it knocks because he is knocking louder.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, May 15, 1957.

Grouch: A person who is never content with his lot until he’s buried in it.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, May 30, 1957.

When you put on a grouch, remember it hurts you worse than those about you.

---John L. Brown, Aurora Daily Star, Aurora, Ill., Feb. 2, 1922.

A grouch is a man who thinks the world is against him–and it is.

—John L. Brown, Aurora Daily Star, Aurora, Ill., Sept. 7, 1921.

A grouch is restive at anything festive.

—Bill Copeland, Sarasota Journal, Sarasota, Fla., June 6, 1972.

A grouch is the bark of a family tree.

---Herb Harris, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, Calif., Nov. 28, 1920.

Even the longest day in the year is too short to waste any of it in nursing a grouch.

---James Syme Hastings, Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., March 26, 1921.

If you are called a grouch take it as a compliment. The bubbly, open-faced man nearly always is a bore.

---Jay E. House, Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, Aug. 29, 1912.

The tasks we have that we don't like are what help make us strong, and they're done better with a grin than if we grouch along.

---Judd Mortimer Lewis, Houston Post, Houston, Texas, Oct. 15, 1932.

Grouch: One who is licked and finds a morbid pleasure in revealing his yellow streak.

---Robert Quillen, The Evening News, San Jose, Calif., Aug. 2, 1921.

Successful matrimony requires only an infinite capacity for keeping your mouth shut when you have a grouch.

---Robert Quillen, The Evening News, San Jose, Calif., Sept. 15, 1921.

As a rule, a grouch is just the triumph of a yellow streak over good nature.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., May 11, 1922.

The shorter and uglier word for wounded vanity is “grouch.”

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., June 6, 1922.

A grouch is just an ordinary mortal with his self-pitying eyes fixed on his sore spots.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., July 15, 1922.

A grouch is just an ordinary individual with a conviction that he has a monopoly on trouble.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., Sept. 21, 1922.

The ins and outs of life for the grouch are in bad and out of luck.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., Aug. 9, 1922.

The soul of the grouch is simply a morgue where his dead hopes are.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., Aug. 14, 1922.

A grouch is a man who is honest enough to admit that he doesn’t like the weather.

---George Rucker, The Evening News, San Jose, Calif., Aug. 9, 1921.

A grouch is an ailment brought on a man thinking he is worse off than he really is.

---Tom Scholey, Prescott Evening Courier, Prescott, Ariz., Jan. 21, 1922.

Wouldn’t it be great if all grouches were as bad off as they think they are?

---Tom Sims, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 25, 1922.

A grouch a day will keep good luck away.

---Tom Sims, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 27, 1922.

A man with a grouchy look seldom gets a pleasant one.

---Tom Sims, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., June 6, 1922.

Things could be worse. Suppose every grouch had been twins?

---Tom Sims, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., June 28, 1922.

Nothing agrees with a grouch, not even what he eats.

---Tom Sims, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., July 3, 1922.

A grouch is a man who thinks the world is against him—and he’s right.

---Tom Sims, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 19, 1922.

When a gang of grouches meet, a miserable time is enjoyed by all.

---Tom Sims, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 31, 1922.

It is no trouble at all to be a pessimist. All one has to do is to let his natural grouch have a free hand.

---Duncan M. Smith, Waterloo Advertiser, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 9, 1912.

The grouch burns his incense before a grim god.

---Duncan M. Smith, Waterloo Advertiser, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 23, 1912.

A sad thing about a grouch acting his true self is that he looks it.

---Daily Idahonian, Moscow, Idaho, Jan. 24, 1946.

A grouch is a confession of impotence.

---Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, July 18, 1907.

A grievance is the grouch's little boy.

---Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Dec. 6, 1914.

Our idea of a grouch is a man who won't laugh until he sees the point of a joke.

---Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Aug. 2, 1929.

As a general thing, a grouch is a person who gets no flattery.

---Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Feb. 5, 1935.

A pessimist is a man with a leaky grouch.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 3, 1913.

Experience is quite as apt to beget a grouch as to bring wisdom.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 5, 1913.

More people grow old grouchily than gracefully.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 24, 1914.

A grouch is merely a vulgar pessimist.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 11, 1915.

Grouch: A man who distrusts people who flatter him and dislikes those who don't.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 13, 1953.

Your grouch hurts you worse than it hurts those about you.

---The Evening News, San Jose, Calif., July 1, 1921.

A grouch is a guy who has sized himself up and is sore about it.

---Houston Post, Houston, Texas, April 17, 1964.

Some people get to be grouches talking to themselves.

---Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho, Feb. 19, 1924.

If a man is unhappy at home, he should find out if his wife has married a grouch.

—Lincoln University Clarion, quoted in Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., March 12, 1950.

Some men are so grouchy they would turn sugar into citric acid.

---Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., March 28, 1929.

The shorter and uglier word for wounded vanity is “grouch.”

---Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., June 11, 1929.

A land crab—The grouch.

---Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 16, 1912.

A grouch is never happy. Let the dentists do the job of looking down in the mouth.

—Morning Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., Oct. 3, 1959.

You don't have to nurse a grouch very carefully to make it grow.

---Nevada State Herald, Wells, Nev., April 6, 1929.

Suppose every grouch had been a twin?

---Orange Daily Leader, Orange, Texas, June 29, 1922.

Getting over a grouch is something like convalescence from any other ailment.

---Painesville Telegraph, Painesville, Ohio, Sept. 21, 1929.

One of the most pestiferous of the pests if the groucher.

He goes into a contact and if he is losing he keeps up a running comment, jumping on himself, jumping on the others in the contest, jumping on the rules of the contest, jumping on his unfortunate decision to enter the contest, and makes himself an irritable companion. Yet he can enter the same contest, with the same people, run under the same rules, and, if he is winning, can be just as pleasant as pleasant can be.

He is never satisfied with the amount of cooperation he is getting. He is always having to do more than his share to make a cooperative move go well. He has to do what he does at a great personal sacrifice, while the other fellow can take his and do what he is doing almost nonchalantly. He fails to get appreciation from the others for the great personal sacrifice he is amking.

In a club he is always grouching at his fellow members. Every time he takes the floor he never sits down before he has criticized his fellow members. He has one and only one outline for club talks and this is “Look what you have failed to do.”

In his club the president is not alive to the opportunities of his executive position; the committee chairmen are going about their duties in the wrong manner; the club members are not prompt enough to hear his opinions and vote his way.

In his community it is so unfortunate that he is the only citizen who gives such a large amount of his time and attention to community affairs. He is forced to be always pleading with others, upbraiding others, criticizing others, in order to get them to do as much as he does willingly.

In his community so much more would be accomplished were it not that the fine ideas he has are ignored while the second rate ideas of the others are given publicity and support.

He can tell you by the hour how others are going about things in the wrong way; about how he is hampered in what he is trying to accomplish by the envy and jealousy of the others; about how others are always actuated by selfish motives while he, alone, works unselfishly for the good of all; about how when he is appointed leader he cannot lead because he has to use up all his time trying to get followers to follow.

If there is a prize pest in a community or in a club or in a group it is the groucher—the person who is always concerned with what is wrong—what is wrong about the thing done, what is wrong about the people in charge, what is wrong about the attitude that rejects his suggestions and advice. He always talks about what is wrong. He never finds anything right unless others are doing just exactly what he advises to be done and nothing else.

Whatever others may think, a groucher always likes his own grouching. He is miserable unless he is grouching.

---Henry Arnold “H.A.” Stallings, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., May 8, 1934.