Elbert Hubbard Quotes

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

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.

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.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Talent does things tolerably well; genius does then intolerably better

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.

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

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.

I would rather have a big burden and a strong back, than a weak back and a caddy to carry life's luggage.

Men are only as great as they are kind.

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

Dignity is a mask we wear to hide our ignorance.

Destruction, violence, ravages, murder, are perpetrated by statute law.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

Let a man once see himself as others see him, and all enthusiasm vanishes from his heart.

Life without absorbing occupation is hell; joy consists in forgetting life.

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

If we cannot be powerful and happy and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.

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

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

A goal without a plan is a dream.

It does not make much difference what a person studies-all knowledge is related, and the man who studies anything, if he keeps at it, will be learned.

If you have no enemies you are apt to be in the same predicament in regard to friends.

Time is an eternal guest that banquets on our ideals and bodies.

The woman who cannot tell a lie in defense of her husband, is unworthy of the name of wife.

An enemy is anyone who tells the truth about you.

The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible.

The new definition of a heathen is a man who has never played baseball.

Charity: a thing that begins at home, and usually stays there.

Men who marry for gratification, propagation or the matter of buttons or socks, must expect to cope with and deal in a certain amount of quibble, subterfuge, concealments, and double, deep-dyed prevarication.

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

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

Every life is its own excuse for being, and to deny or refute the untrue things that are said of you is an error in judgment. All wrong recoils upon the doer, and the person who makes wrong statements about others is themselves to be pitied, not the person they vilify. It is better to be lied about than to lie. At the last no one can harm us but ourselves.

Do not go out of your way to do good whenever it comes your way. Men who make a business of doing good to others are apt to hate others in the same occupation. Simply be filled with the thought of good, and it will radiate you do not have to bother about it, any more than you need trouble about your digestion.

It is always the nearest, plainest and simplest principles that learned men comprehend last.

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

The hundred-point man is one who is true to every trust; who keeps his word; who is loyal to the firm that employs him; who does not listen for insults nor look for slights; who carries a civil tongue in his head; who is polite to strangers without being fresh; who is considerate toward servants; who is moderate in his eating and drinking; who is willing to learn; who is cautious and yet courageous.

Study: concentration of the mind on whatever will ultimately put something in your pocket.

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.

Life is a paradox. Every truth has its counterpart which contradicts it; and every philosopher supplies the logic his own undoing.

The poor and ignorant will continue to lie and steal as long as the rich and educated show them how.

A college degree does not lessen the length of your ears; it only conceals it.

Progress needs the brakeman, but the brakeman should not spend all his time putting on the brakes.

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

Old ways will always remain unless some one invents a new way and then lives and dies for it

Tragedy and comedy are simply questions of value; a little misfit in life makes us laugh; a great one is tragedy and cause for expression of grief.

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

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

To supply a thought is mental massage; but to evolve a thought of your own is an achievement. Thinking is a brain exercise and no faculty grows save as it is exercised.

Jealousy seems the absolute reversal of love. It is the swinging from the sunny warmth of the Equator to the frigid cold of the North Pole.

Habit: The great economizer of energy.

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. That is to say, I desire to be Radiant -- to Radiate Life!

It is the weak man who urges compromise - never the strong man.

Life in abundance comes only through great love.

Action is thought tempered by illusion.

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.

Philosophy rests on a proposition that whatever is is right. Preaching begins by assuming that whatever is is wrong.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting.You can lead a boy to college but you cannot make him think.

Love is not really blind- the bandage is never so tight but that it can peep.