Elbert Hubbard Quotes

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.

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

Life is just one damned thing after another.

Insomnia never comes to a man who has to get up exactly at six o'clock. Insomnia troubles only those who can sleep any time.

What boy well raised can compare with your street gamin who has the knowledge and the shrewdness of a grown-up broker.

As a rule, the man who can do all things equally well is a very mediocre individual.

The only man who makes money following the races is one who does it with a broom and shovel.

Freedom is the supreme good; freedom from self imposed limitation.

As a career, the business of an orthodox preacher is about as successful as that of a celluloid dog chasing an asbestos cat through hell.

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

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

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

The product of the head, heart and hand is a thing to be loved.

A person may be very secretive and yet have no secrets.

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.

Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience.

Don't lose faith in humanity; think of all the people in the United States who have never played you a single nasty trick.

The trouble with many married people is that they are trying to get more out of marriage than there is in it.

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 only way to retain love is to give it away.

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

Postponement: The father of failure.

Fences are made for those who cannot fly.

Do you say that religion is still needed? Then I answer that Work, Study, Health and Love constitute religion. . . . Most formal religions have pronounced the love of man for woman and woman for man an evil thing. . . . They have said that sickness was sent from God. . . . Now we deny it all, and again proclaim that these will bring you all the good there is: Health, Work, Study - Love!

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

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

Every spirit makes its house, but as afterwards the house confines the spirit, you had better build well.

I believe in courtesy, in kindness, in generosity, in good cheer, in friendship and in honest competition. I believe there is something doing somewhere, for every man ready to do it. I believe I'm ready, RIGHT NOW.

What people need and what they want may be very different.... Teachers are those who educate the people to appreciate the things they need.

Strength and strength's will are the supreme ethic. All else are dreams from hospital beds, the sly, crawling goodness of sneaking souls.

God is good, there is no devil but fear.

The stupidity of one brain multiplied by twelve.

Growth is often a painful process.

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

If you work for a man, in Heavens name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply your bread and butter, work for him, stand by him, and stand by the institution he represents.

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.

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

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 weaknesses of the many make the leader possible.

The difference in men does not lie in the size of their hands, nor in the perfection of their bodies, but in this one sublime ability of concentration: to throw the weight in one blow, to live eternity in an hour.

Reason: The arithmetic of the emotions.

When certain unmarried men, who had lost their capacity to sin, sat indoors, breathing bad air, and passed resolutions about what was right and what wrong, making rules for the guidance of the people, instead of trusting to the natural, happy instincts of the individual, they ushered in the Dark Ages. These are the gentlemen who blocked human evolution absolutely for a thousand years.

A little more patience, a little more charity for all, a little more devotion, a little more love; with less bowing down to the past, and a silent ignoring of pretended authority; brave looking forward to the future with more faith in our fellows, and the race will be ripe for a great burst of light and life.

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

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

Theology is an attempt to explain a subject by men who do not understand it. The intent is not to tell the truth but to satisfy the questioner.

Fortitude: That quality of mind which does not care what happens so long as it does not happen to us.

To know the great men dead is compensation for having to live with the mediocre.