"When others kid me about being bald, I simply tell them that the way I figure it, the good Lord only gave men so many hormones, and if others want to waste theirs on growing hair, that's up to them"
About this Quote
Glenn takes a joke about baldness and turns it into a miniature manifesto of competence. The line works because it refuses the defensive posture we expect from someone being needled; instead, he reframes the tease as an index of priorities. Hair becomes a frivolous budget item, hormones the finite currency, and masculinity something measured in allocation rather than appearance. It is a clean bit of rhetorical judo: he accepts the premise (yes, I am bald) and flips the value system (and that means I am spending on the right things).
The “good Lord” is doing quiet cultural labor here. Glenn invokes providence not to preach, but to normalize the body as issued equipment. If the Creator dealt the cards, vanity starts to look like arguing with the deck. That appeal lands especially well for a mid-century American hero whose public image depended on steadiness, not self-display. The joke’s genial tone also keeps it from sounding like a sermon; it’s a locker-room quip with moral ballast.
Context matters: astronauts were marketed as disciplined, almost interchangeable avatars of national resolve. Glenn’s humor aligns with that brand while slipping in individual character. He’s not just unbothered by ridicule; he’s suggesting that the people doing the ribbing are the ones squandering energy. In a culture obsessed with grooming as status, he turns baldness into proof of mission focus: less mirror, more throttle.
The “good Lord” is doing quiet cultural labor here. Glenn invokes providence not to preach, but to normalize the body as issued equipment. If the Creator dealt the cards, vanity starts to look like arguing with the deck. That appeal lands especially well for a mid-century American hero whose public image depended on steadiness, not self-display. The joke’s genial tone also keeps it from sounding like a sermon; it’s a locker-room quip with moral ballast.
Context matters: astronauts were marketed as disciplined, almost interchangeable avatars of national resolve. Glenn’s humor aligns with that brand while slipping in individual character. He’s not just unbothered by ridicule; he’s suggesting that the people doing the ribbing are the ones squandering energy. In a culture obsessed with grooming as status, he turns baldness into proof of mission focus: less mirror, more throttle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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