Elbert Hubbard

We work to become, not to acquire.

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.

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

Men are only as great as they are kind.

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

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

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

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

The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Fear clogs; faith liberates.

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

Life is just one damned thing after another.

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

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

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

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

If you suffer, thank God! It is a sure sign that you are alive.

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

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

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

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

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

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

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

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

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

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

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

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

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

If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of trouble.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

The thing we fear we bring to pass.

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

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.

Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority.

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

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

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better work.

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

Live truth instead of professing it.

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

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

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

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

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

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

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

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.

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

Die, v.: To stop sinning suddenly.

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.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

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

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

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

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.

Life in abundance comes only through great love.

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

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

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

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy to be called an idea at all.

Initiative is doing the right things without being told.