Finley Peter Dunne

Who was Finley Peter Dunne?

Finley Peter Dunne was an American humorist and writer from Chicago. He published Mr. Dooley in Peace and War, a collection of his nationally syndicated Mr. Dooley sketches, in 1898. The fictional Mr. Dooley expounded upon political and social issues of the day from his South Side Chicago Irish pub and he spoke with the thick verbiage and accent of an Irish immigrant from County Roscommon. Dunne's sly humor and political acumen won the support of President Theodore Roosevelt, a frequent target of Mr. Dooley's barbs. Indeed Dunne's sketches became so popular and such a litmus test of public opinion that they were read each week at White House cabinet meetings.

Famous Quotes:

• Trust everybody, but cut the cards.
• Don't jump on a man unless he is down.
• Vice is a creature of such hideous mien... that the more you see it the better you like it.
• One of the strangest things about life is that the poor, who need the money the most, are the ones that never have it.
• The only good husbands stay bachelors: They're too considerate to get married.
• Alcohol is necessary for a man so that he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed be the facts.
• A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.
• A man's idea in a game of cards is war, cruel, devastating, and pitiless. A lady's idea of it is a combination of larceny, embezzlement and burglary.
• The past always looks better than it was because it isn't here.
• Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.