Tom Bodett Quotes & Sayings

“In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”

“Somebody says, 'Do a Tom Bodett, a folksy kind of thing,' and it sounds like something out of 'Hee Haw,' very insulting. They turn wry humor into disparaging sarcasm, and you get what amounts to insulting advertising.”

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”

“The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.”

“It's not like Alaska isn't wilderness - it mostly is. But most Alaskans don't live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller rinks sometimes. It's just like anyplace else, only with mountains and moose.”

“You can make a new friend but you can't make an old one.”

“People feel vulnerable when they travel. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of or talked into something they don't want. Staying at Motel 6 makes you feel smarter. In fact, I think it actually means you are smarter, but I have no hard data to support that.”

“I'm not an impersonator. I've only got one voice and only do one guy and his first-person essays.”

“Americans are generally very self-sufficient and I think generally averse to pretension, just as I am.”

“I'm happy to report you still get nothing you don't need at Motel 6, and, therefore, you don't have to pay for it. I don't need valet parking. If I can drive the old crate 300 miles to the hotel all by myself, I can certainly handle the last nine feet to the parking space.”