Elbert Hubbard Quotes & Sayings

The average woman sees only the weak points in a strong man, and the good points in a weak one. — Elbert Hubbard

Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts. — Elbert Hubbard

The inspirations of today are the shams of tomorrow the purpose has departed. — Elbert Hubbard

Money never made a fool of anybody; it only shows them up. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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

Grammar is the grave of letters. — Elbert Hubbard

Success - To rise from the illusion of pursuit to the disillusion of possession. — Elbert Hubbard

It is not deeds or acts that last: it is the written record of those deeds and acts. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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. — Elbert Hubbard

One grows to the belief that, while woman's glory is in her hair, man's glory is to defeat some one. And if he can 'defeat with great slaughter' his monument is twice as high as if he had only visited on his brother man a plain undoing. — Elbert Hubbard

Respectability is the dickey on the bosom of civilization. — Elbert Hubbard

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

The 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 Hubbard

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. — Elbert Hubbard

Piety is the tinfoil of pretense. — Elbert Hubbard

Action is thought tempered by illusion. — Elbert Hubbard

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! — Elbert Hubbard

Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us. — Elbert Hubbard

You can lead a boy to college, but you cannot make him think. — Elbert Hubbard

Your enemy is one who misunderstands you; why should you not rise above the fog and see his error and respect him for the good qualities you find in him? — Elbert Hubbard

There are three sides to every question-where a divorce is involved. — Elbert Hubbard

Gossip is vice enjoyed vicariously — Elbert Hubbard

Business, to be successful, must be based on science, for demand and supply are matters of mathematics, not guesswork. — Elbert Hubbard

Enthusiasm is the great hill-climber. — Elbert Hubbard

Punishment - The justice that the guilty deal out to those that are caught. — Elbert Hubbard

The teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before. — Elbert Hubbard

Luck is tenacity of purpose. — Elbert Hubbard

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

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. — Elbert Hubbard

Most people like hard work, particularly when they're paying for it. — Elbert Hubbard

No book is of much importance; the vital thing is, What do you yourself think? — Elbert Hubbard

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

If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
(Get Out or Get in Line, 1928) — Elbert Hubbard

When we really live truth, we will cease to talk about it. — Elbert Hubbard

Success consists in the climb. — Elbert Hubbard

Man creates both his god and his devil in his own image. His god is himself at his best, and his devil himself at his worst. — Elbert Hubbard

Failure
The man who can tell others what to do and how to do it, but never does it himself. — Elbert Hubbard

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

Make two grins grow where there was only a grouch before. — Elbert Hubbard

Who are the happiest people on earth? A craftsman or artist whistling over a job well done. A little child building sand castles. A mother, after a busy day, bathing her baby. A doctor who has finished a difficult and dangerous operation, and saved a human life. Happiness lies in a constructive job well done. Get your happiness out of your work or you will never know what happiness is. — Elbert Hubbard

I believe the Universe is planned for good. — Elbert Hubbard

The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is love, laughter, and work. — Elbert Hubbard

When on the brink of complete discouragement, success is discerning that ... the line between failure and success is so fine that often a single extra effort is all that is needed to bring victory out of defeat. — Elbert Hubbard

Life consists in molting our illusions. We form creeds today only to throw them away tomorrow. The eagle molts a feather because he is growing a better one. — Elbert Hubbard

When trouble comes, wise men take to their work; weak men take to the woods. — Elbert Hubbard

Truth, in its struggles for recognition, passes through four distinct stages. First, we say it is damnable, dangerous, disorderly, and will surely disrupt society. Second, we declare it is heretical, infidelic and contrary to the Bible. Third, we say it is really a matter of no importance either one way or the other. Fourth, we aver that we have always upheld it and believed it. — Elbert Hubbard

I am not sure just what the unpardonable sin is, but I believe it is a disposition to evade the payment of small bills. — Elbert Hubbard

Put yourself in the other man's place and then you will know why he thinks certain things and does certain deeds. — Elbert Hubbard

Righteous indignation: your own wrath as opposed to the shocking bad temper of others — Elbert Hubbard

In God's great vaudeville, Mother is the headliner. — Elbert Hubbard

We are punished by our sins, not for them. — Elbert Hubbard

We work to become, not to acquire. — Elbert Hubbard

The finest flowers are those transplanted, for transplanting means difficulty, a readjusting to new conditions, and through the effort put forth to find adjustment does the plant progress. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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

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

Every man who speaks out loud and clear is tinting the "Zeitgeist." Every man who expresses what he honestly thinks is true is changing the Spirit of the Times. Thinkers help other people to think, for they formulate what others are thinking. No person writes or thinks alone
thought is in the air, but its expression is necessary to create a tangible Spirit of the Times. — Elbert Hubbard

There have always existed three ways of keeping the people loving and loyal. One is to leave them alone, to trust them and not to interfere. This plan, however, has very seldom been
practised, because the politicians regard the public as a cow to be milked, and something must be done to make it stand quiet. — Elbert Hubbard

Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do — Elbert Hubbard

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

You gain by giving - so give sympathy and cheerful loyalty to the institution. Be proud of it. — Elbert Hubbard

History: a collection of epitaphs. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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

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

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

Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority. — Elbert Hubbard

It is only life and love that give love and life. — Elbert Hubbard

Organized religion, being founded on superstition, is, perforce, not scientific. And all that which is not scientific - that is, truthful - must be bolstered up by force, fear and falsehood. Thus we always find slavery and organized religion going hand in hand. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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

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

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. — Elbert Hubbard

The graveyards are full of people the world could not do without. — Elbert Hubbard

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

We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for. — Elbert Hubbard

Destruction, violence, ravages, murder, are perpetrated by statute law. — Elbert Hubbard

The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible. — Elbert Hubbard

Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life. — Elbert Hubbard

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. — Elbert Hubbard

History: gossip well told. — Elbert Hubbard

Dignity is a mask we wear to hide our ignorance. — Elbert Hubbard

One great, strong, unselfish soul in every community could actually redeem the world. — Elbert Hubbard

A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience. — Elbert Hubbard

Perfume: any smell that is used to drown a worse one. — Elbert Hubbard

Falling 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 Hubbard

Strong men can always afford to be gentle. Only the weak are intent on giving as good as they get. — Elbert Hubbard

The great man is not so great as folks think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not aware that he has any show-window or any goods. — Elbert Hubbard

There is no failure except the failure of trying. — Elbert Hubbard

If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names. — Elbert Hubbard

Opportunities for education should be within the reach of every individual, not for the lucky few. — Elbert Hubbard

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

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

The thing we fear we bring to pass. — Elbert Hubbard

A goal without a plan is a dream. — Elbert Hubbard

There is more sophistication and less sense in New York than anywhere else on the globe. — Elbert Hubbard

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. — Elbert Hubbard

The past is one evil less and one memory more. — Elbert Hubbard