T. Boone Pickens' Booneisms

Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens made a fortune in the oil business but today he is sinking billions of dollars into a new wind farm in Texas. It is likely to become the biggest in the world, producing enough power for the equivalent of 1.3 million homes. He's always been known as a hard-ball businessman with a sense of Texas smartness. Here are a few of his sayings, written down by his family down through the years.

"When you are hunting elephants, don't get distracted chasing rabbits."

"Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."

"A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan."

"You can judge a trapper by his pelts."

"At his age, I wouldn't buy ripe bananas."

"If you're on the right side of the issue, just keep driving until you hear glass breaking. Don't quit."

"(The man)'s as smooth as a stucco bathtub."

"You could be in paradise with a ham on your shoulder and you'd have something to complain about." (Focus on the task at hand.)

"If he tells ya a goose can pull a wagon, I'd say load the wagon." (Expressing confidence in someone.)

"Like the fella who fell off the top of a 10-story building --and as he passed the third floor, said, 'I'm not dead yet.'" (It isn't over till it's over.)

"There are three reasons we can't do it. First, we don't have the money, and the other two reasons don't make a damn." (The response TBP would get as a boy when he asked his dad why they couldn't do something.)

"You are pissing in my ear and telling me it's raining outside." (How gullible do you think I am?)