Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision!
Elbert HubbardI 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.
Elbert HubbardOur desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation.
Elbert HubbardThe teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and that the true teacher is a learner.
Elbert HubbardKnow 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.
Elbert HubbardTragedy 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.
Elbert HubbardOne machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
Elbert HubbardFalling in love is the beginning of all wisdom, all sympathy, all compassion, all art, all religion; and in it's larger sense is the one thing in life worth doing.
Elbert HubbardThe happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.
Elbert HubbardGenius is the ability to act rightly without precedent - the power to do the right thing the first time.
Elbert HubbardA poor man who eats too much, as contradistinguished from a gourmand, who is a rich man who ''lives well.''
Elbert HubbardThis will never be a civilized country until we spend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.
Elbert HubbardHow many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.
Elbert HubbardMost diseases are the result of medication which has been prescribed to relieve and take away a beneficent and warning symptom on the part of Nature.
Elbert HubbardIf men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?
Elbert HubbardBe 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.
Elbert HubbardThe 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.
Elbert HubbardNever get married in college; it's hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you've already made one mistake.
Elbert HubbardAnyone 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.
Elbert Hubbard