Elbert Hubbard Quotes

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.

God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.

To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.

Never explain―your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.

The love we give away is the only love we keep.

I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love...I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.

I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.

No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.

I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.

True life lies in laughter, love and work.

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.

The line between failure and success is so fine. . . that we are often on the line and do not know it.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do

This will never be a civilized country until we expend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.

So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. (Get Out or Get in Line, 1928)

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.

If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.

It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get.

Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones to genius.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do. —Elbert Hubbard

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success?

The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.

Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.

A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run.

Laughter is higher than all pain.

Men are punished by their sins, not for them.

The stronger a man is, the more gentle he can afford to be

The supernatural is the natural not yet understood. —Elbert Hubbard

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

It's a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

I wish to live without hate, whim, jealousy, envy, and fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural . . to face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid.

A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.

Nothing is permanent but change.

Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination.

Men are only as great as they are kind.

We work to become, not to acquire.

We will not be dictated to by men with less intelligence, energy, initiative and ambition than we ourselves possess.

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

Every saint has a bee in his halo.

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience.

Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of the field in hope that the cow will back up to them.

There is more sophistication and less sense in New York than anywhere else on the globe.

Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” —Elbert Hubbard

Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision!

When you grow suspicious of a person and begin a system of espionage upon him, your punishment will be that you will find your suspicions true.

The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner.

Nature: The unseen intelligence which loved us into being, and is disposing of us by the same token

Opportunities for education should be within the reach of every individual, not for the lucky few.

No one gets very far unless he accomplishes the impossible at least once a day.

Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.

The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.

Life is unrest, and its passage at best a zigzag course, that only straightens to a direct line when viewed across the years.

Character is the result of two things, mental attitude, and the way we spend our time. It is what we think and what we do that make us what we are. By

We are gods in the chrysalis.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Science is the effective way of doing things. Business is the economic way of doing things.

Heaven: the Coney Island of the Christian imagination.

Live truth instead of professing it.

The great man is not so great as folks think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not aware that he has any show-window or any goods.

The graveyards are full of people the world could not do without.

Poise is the strength of body and strength of mind to control your Sympathy and your Knowledge. Unless you control your emotions they run over and you stand in the mire.

Business, to be successful, must be based on science, for demand and supply are matters of mathematics, not guesswork.

Young women with ambitions should be very crafty and cautious, lest mayhap they be caught in the soft, silken mesh of a happy marriage, and go down to oblivion, dead to the world.

Whenever you go out-of-doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every handclasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and do not waste a minute thinking about your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do; and then, without veering off direction, you will move straight to the goal. Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding away, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are requiered for the fulfillment of your desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the element it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual... Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude - the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are good in the chrysalis.

The most important success principle of all was stated by Elbert Hubbard, one of the most prolific writers in American history, at the beginning of the twentieth century. He said, ‘Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.

Professor [John] Tyndall once said the finest inspiration he ever received was from an old man who could scarcely read. This man acted as his servant. Each morning the old man would knock on the door of the scientist and call, 'Arise, Sir: it is near seven o'clock and you have great work to do today.

In these days, a man who says a thing cannot be done, quite apt to be interrupted by some idiot doing it.

Do not dump your woes upon people — keep the sad story of your life to yourself. Troubles grow by recounting them.

The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is to love, laugh, and work.

Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them.

A man who marries a woman to educate her falls into the same fallacy as the woman who marries a man to reform him.

The man who is anybody and who does anything is certainly going to be criticized, vilified and misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every great man understands it; and understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness.

Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who got out of all the work they could during the week.

A school should not be a preparation for life. A school should be life.

Two-thirds of all preachers, doctors and lawyers are hanging on to the coat tails of progress, shouting, whoa! while a good many of the rest are busy strewing banana peels along the line of march.

Science is simply the classification of the common knowledge of the common people. It is bringing together the things we all know and putting them together so we can use them. This is creation and finds its analogy in Nature, where the elements are combined in certain ways to give us fruits or flowers or grain.

A PRAYER   The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, powerful, or “good,” but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected—ready to say “I do not know,” if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality—to face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. I wish others to live their lives, too—up to their highest, fullest and best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not needed. If I can help people, I’ll do it by giving them a chance to help themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation.