Elbert Hubbard's Quotes

Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant - the digitalis of failure.

If you can't answer a man's arguments, 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.

Often we can help each other most by leaving each other alone; at other times we need the hand-grasp and the word of cheer.

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

Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us.

Christianity supplies a Hell for the people who disagree with you and a Heaven for your friends.

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

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

A man is as good as he has to be, and a woman as bad as she dares.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

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

Live truth instead of professing it.

Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom for himself.

It may happen sometimes that a long debate becomes the cause of a longer friendship. Commonly, those who dispute with one another at last agree.

Men are only as great as they are kind.

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.

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.

The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.

The idea that is not dangerous is not worthy of being called an idea at all.

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

Where much is expected from an individual, he may rise to the level of events and make the dream come true.

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

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

It's pretty hard to be efficient without being obnoxious.

Love, we say, is life; but love without hope and faith is agonizing death.

We are not punished for our sins, but by them.

A pessimist? That's a person who has been intimately acquainted with an optimist.

Fear clogs; faith liberates.

Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority.

He has achieved success who has worked well, laughed often, and loved much.

Initiative is doing the right things without being told.

Life is just one damned thing after another.

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

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

The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.

Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.

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

Polygamy: An endeavour to get more out of life than there is in it.

The church saves sinners, but science seeks to stop their manufacture.

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

The thing we fear we bring to pass.

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

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.

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

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

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

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

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

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

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

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

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

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

Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation.

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

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

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

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

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

The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence.

Never get married in college; it's hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you've already made one mistake.

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

Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

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