I HOPE THIS WILL PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART.

Tribute to a man who DID make a difference:

Mr. Bob Hope - May 29, 1903 - July 27, 2003

ON TURNING 70 "You still chase women, but only downhill".

ON TURNING 80 "That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit needs pressing."

ON TURNING 90 "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake."

ON TURNING 100 " I don't feel old. In fact I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap."

ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING "I ruined my hands in the ring ... the referee kept stepping on them."!

ON NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR "Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it's called at my home, 'Passover'."

ON GOLF "Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees."

ON PRESIDENTS "I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only six."

ON WHY HE CHOSE SHOWBIZ FOR HIS CAREER " When I was born, the Doctor said to my mother, 'Congratulations You have an eight-pound ham."

ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL "I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it."

ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY "Four of us slept in the one bed. When it got cold, mother threw on another brother."

ON HIS SIX BROTHERS "That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the bathroom."

ON HIS EARLY FAILURES "I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me."

ON GOING TO HEAVEN "I've done benefits for ALL religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality."

Give me a sense of humor. Lord, Give me the grace to see a joke, to get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folks.

Editor's note from Robert Morningstar:

During childhood, Bob Hope humor sometimes provided us with a healthy "alter ego" that came in handy in dire situations.

It was tough growing up in NYC's "Hell's Kitchen" in the 1950s (with a lot of bullying and gang fighting) but Bob Hope was my "ace in the hole" for self-defense when it came to bantering (or "sounding on..." someone as we called it).

We would "sound" on each other in school with things like:

"Your mother wears combat boots to church!"

To which I might respond with:

"O, yeah? You wear 'Bob Hope Shirts'... Bob throws them away and ... You Hope they fit."

Many a time, that quip shut bullies up and stopped a fight by making everyone laugh.

Although on other occasions, it only infuriated them and the fists would fly.

Regards,

"Rob Me"...