Elbert hubbard quotes

If you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want.

The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.

True life lies in laughter, love and work.

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

The reward of a good deed is in having done it.

I believe it is possible that I shall make other creeds, and change this one, or add to it, from time to time, as new light may come to me.

Reason: The arithmetic of the emotions.

Genius is the capacity of avoiding hard work.

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.

The cure for grief is motion.

Academic education is the act of memorizing things read in books, and things told by college professors who got their education mostly by memorizing things read in books.

There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.

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

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.

No matter how long you live, die young.

Politicians regard the public as a cow to be milked

A goal without a plan is a dream.

All success consists in this: You are doing something for somebody - benefiting humanity - and the feeling of success comes from the consciousness of this.

We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for.

Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.

Everything comes too late for those who only wait.

Genius is the ability to act rightly without precedent - the power to do the right thing the first time.

Be yourself and think for yourself, and while your conclusions may not be infallible they will be nearer right than the inclusions forced upon you by those who have a personal interest in keeping you in ignorance.

Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.

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

There was one who thought himself above me, and he was above me until he had that thought.

An ounce of performance is worth more than a pound of preachment.

The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely 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. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure contumely without resentment.

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

Luck is tenacity of purpose.

The man who doesn't relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on.

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.

Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience.

As we grow better, we meet better people.

The line between failure and success is so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a person has thrown up his or her hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

We work to become, not to acquire.

In order to have friends, you must first be one.

Most people like hard work, particularly when they're paying for it.

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

Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They're realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.

What we call God's justice is only man's idea of what he would do if he were God.

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

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

The more one knows, the more one simplifies.

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

Man's greatest blunder has been in trying to make peace with the skies instead of making peace with his neighbors

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.

To make mistakes is human, but to profit from them is divine.

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

Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is.

Money never made a fool of anybody; it only shows them up.

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

Some men can get results if kindly encouraged, but give me the kind that do things in spite of hell.

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.

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

Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it.

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.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

We make our money out of our friends. Our enemies will not do business with us.

I believe that the best way to prepare for a Future Life is to be kind, live one day at a time, and do the work you can do best, doing it as well as you can.

I believe the only way we can reach the Kingdom of Heaven is to have the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts.

If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him, speak well of him, and stand by the institution he represents. Remember, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault - resign your position, and when you are outside, damn to your heart's content - but as long as you are part of the institution, do not condemn it. If you do, the first high wind that comes along will blow you away, and probably you will never know why.

What others say of me matters little; what I myself say and do matters much.

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

Lawyers are men whom we hire to protect us from lawyers.

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

Nothing is permanent but change.

One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes two to be glad.

The man who knows it can't be done counts the risk, not the reward.

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

If your religion does not change you, then you had better change your religion.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

Men are only as great as they are kind.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Lovers are fools, but Nature makes them so.

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

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

What people need and what they want may be very different.

Wise Man: One who sees the storm coming before the clouds appear.

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

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

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

Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.

Man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is.

The thing we fear we bring to pass.

Formal religion was organized for slaves: it offered them consolation which earth did not provide.

If it was woman who put man out of Paradise, it is still woman, and woman only, who can lead him back.

A woman will doubt everything you say except it be compliments to herself.

Faith is the effort to believe what your common sense tells you is not true.

Business is a fight, a continual struggle, just as life is

Down in their hearts, wise men know this truth: the only way to help yourself is to help others.

You can lead a boy to college, but you cannot make him think.

People who are able to do their own thinking should not allow others to do it for them.

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.

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

Growth is often a painful process.

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 to your goal.

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

The valuable person in any business is the individual who can and will cooperate with others.

Anyone who idolizes you is going to hate you when he discovers that you are fallible. He never forgives. He has deceived himself, and he blames you for it.

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

Of all the mental and physical polluters of life, nothing exercises such a poisonous effect as fear.

The man who has no problems is out of the game.

Success consists in the climb.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you'll make one.

Where parents do too much for their children, the children will not do much for themselves.

All wages are based primarily on productive power. Anything else would be charity.

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

The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one.

Good health! Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of your head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every handclasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and never waste a minute thinking about your enemies.

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

The cheerful loser is the winner.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

If you want work well done, select a busy man - the other kind has no time.

Impossible things are simply those which so far have never been done.

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

When on the brink of complete discouragement, success is discerning that...the line between failure and success is so fine that often a single extra effort is all that is needed to bring victory out of defeat.

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

Fences are made for those who cannot fly.

Men are rich only as they give. He who gives great service gets great rewards.

Freedom cannot be bestowed - it must be achieved.

Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed - there's so little competition.

Every man should have a college education in order to show him how little the thing is really worth.

Dignity is a mask we wear to hide our ignorance.

There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. The sternest comment that can be made against employers as a class lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and encouragement.