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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Will Rogers attracted a crowd that day unequalled in Columbia annals. By this time, his column appeared in virtually every city in the United States. Two things impressed me then. One, he had no notes. Two, he didn't lecture to us--he talked to us. When we subwayed back downtown together-- I took him back to his hotel--I said, “You didn't use any notes!" Will Rogers said, “Of course I didn't. When a man who gets up on a platform to talk, if he can't get by without notes or reading a speech, he's not a lecturer. He's an amateur! The way to intrigue people is to talk to them, not to lecture to them.” Wonderful advice! I've never forgotten it!

To this very day I end up many of my speechs with a bit of philosophy that Will Rogers told us that day. It's just as applicable today as it was then. He said, “You can always get along in life if you do three things. One, work hard, not to please your boss or your college professor, but to please yourself. There's a satisfaction in doing a job as well as you know how that only that breed of man can understand and realize. The second thing to do is to think big. You might as well project yourself as being president of General Motors instead of just foreman of one of their plants. Think big! What have you got to lose? The third and possibly most important thing is to have a dream. “Have a dream,” he said. “Every boy and girl in America is born with a set of wonderful dreams. But what happens to them? They have trouble getting through school. They fall in love





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