I got me a new saying,"You can't cuss the cotton." I got it from my hero, BUCK BANNON, from the novel, DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. It refers to how a man makes his living. You can cuss all the things that hold you back from meeting your goals of growth but you CAN'T CUSS the stuff you are growing, only the stuff that prevents it from growing. To go in the other direction is a PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER & OBLIVION.

from page 191 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD (Buck Bannon is talking to himself) "A man doesn't change, he develops. He makes, according to the things that happen to him, like a crop makes with the seasons. You can't cuss the cotton. You cuss the rain and the weevil that fester it. A man-you cuss the time he was hungry and couldn't get food or the time he wanted his wife and she-"

Throughout the book, Buck looks to the life of a cotton farmer to give himself his rules to live by, "Godamighty, it's just like I furnished a farmer- gave him land to work, seed to plant, and mules and tools. He'd do the best he could, I reckon. Looks like I got furnished with whatever I am, and it's up to me to do the best I can with what I've got. I don't go behind and look up a farmer tryin' to furnish him with some more. After I set him up, the rest is up to him."