Robert Baden-Powell Quotes & Sayings

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond. — Robert Baden-Powell

Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science: rather it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light. In the same time it is educative, and (like Mercy) it is apt to benefit him that giveth as well as him that receives. — Robert Baden-Powell

It is called in our schools 'beastliness', and this is about the best name for it ... should it become a habit it quickly destroys both health and spirits; he becomes feeble in body and mind, and often ends in a lunatic asylum. — Robert Baden-Powell

I have over and over again explained that the purpose of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide Movement is to build men and women as citizens endowed with the three H's namely, Health, Happiness and Helpfulness. The man or woman who succeeds in developing these three attributes has secured the main steps to success this Life. — Robert Baden-Powell

The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others. — Robert Baden-Powell

Life would pall if it were all sugar; salt is bitter if taken by itself; but when tasted as part of the dish, it savours the meat. Difficulties are the salt of life. — Robert Baden-Powell

A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. — Robert Baden-Powell

The method of instruction in Scouting is that of creating in the boy the desire to learn for himself. — Robert Baden-Powell

Success in training the boy depends largely on the Scoutmaster's own personal example. — Robert Baden-Powell

Always do I recall the parting words uttered by my old governor: "My boy, never ... " I won't set 'em down. I disregarded them fool-like and paid, and paid; had I a son I'd hand 'em on and ram 'em home. What fools we be when young. We fancy we be wise, forgetting that the old boys have graduated in the 'varsity of the world, the greatest 'varsity of all, and each day we should learn from they. — Robert Baden-Powell

Development of outlook naturally begins with a respect for God ... Reverence to God and reverence for one's neighbor and reverence for oneself as a servant of God. — Robert Baden-Powell

If it were not for the depressing heat and the urgency of the work, one could sit down and laugh to tears at the absurdity of the thing, and under the circumstances it is a little wearing. But our motto is the old west coast proverb, Softly, softly, catchee monkey; in other words, don't flurry; patience gains the day. — Robert Baden-Powell

True Scouts are the best friends of animals, for from living in the woods and wilds, and practising observation and tracking, they get to know more than other people about the ways and habits of birds and animals, and therefore they understand them and are more in sympathy with them. — Robert Baden-Powell

To get a hold on boys you must be their friend. — Robert Baden-Powell

The knowledge that we have brother scouts working in the same uniform, to the same ends, in the same way, in all corners of the Empire, cannot but make scouts proud of their brotherhood, and cannot fail to bring them into closer sympathy. — Robert Baden-Powell

Your natural inclination is to preach and to warn other travellers of snags in the path, but isn't it better to signal to them some of the joys by the way which they might otherwise miss? — Robert Baden-Powell

I have often urged my young friends, when faced with an adversary, to "play polo" with him; i.e., not to go at him bald-headed but to ride side by side with him and gradually edge him off your track. Never lose your temper with him. If you are in the right there is no need to, if you are in the wrong you can't afford to. — Robert Baden-Powell

Apart from the fact that any hardy exercise conduces much to the training and formation of a soldier, pig-sticking tends to give a man what is called a 'stalker's eye,' but which, par excellence, is the soldier's eye. — Robert Baden-Powell

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don't recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp. — Robert Baden-Powell

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light. — Robert Baden-Powell

Personally, I like reading adventures which really have happened to people, because they show what kind of things might happen to oneself, and they teach one how to 'Be Prepared' to meet them. — Robert Baden-Powell

As Sir Henry Newbolt sums it up: "The real test of success is whether a life has been a happy one and a happy giving one." — Robert Baden-Powell

Trust should be the basis for all our moral training. — Robert Baden-Powell

Swimming has its educational value - mental, moral, and physical - in giving you a sense of mastery over an element, and of power of saving life, and in the development of wind and limb. — Robert Baden-Powell

Mind you, I have had in my sojourn on earth as good a time of it as any man, so I can speak with some knowledge. A writer in the Manchester Guardian who is unknown to me lately described me as "the richest man in the world." That sounds a pretty big order, but when I come to think it out I believe he is not far wrong. A rich man is not necessarily a man with a whole pot of money but a man who is really happy. And I am that. — Robert Baden-Powell

From the boys' point of view, scouting puts them into fraternity-gangs, which is their natural organisation, whether for games, mischief, or loafing; it gives them a smart dress and equipments; it appeals to their imagination and romance; and it engages them in an active, open-air life. — Robert Baden-Powell

If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk. — Robert Baden-Powell

Happiness is open to all, since, when you boil it down, it merely consists of contentment with what you have got and doing what you can for other people. — Robert Baden-Powell

Be Prepared ... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise. — Robert Baden-Powell

Boy Scout is not merely to give you fun and adventure but that, like the backwoodsmen, explorers, and frontiersmen whom you are following, you will be fitting yourself to help your country and to be of service to other people who may be in need of help. That is what the best men are out to do. — Robert Baden-Powell

Erudition - that is, reading, writing, and arithmetic - is taught in the schools; but where is the more important quality, character, taught? Nowhere in particular. There is no authorized training for children in character. — Robert Baden-Powell

I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. — Robert Baden-Powell

See things from the boy's point of view. — Robert Baden-Powell

Young men, of course, don't want to be guided by old back numbers, but at the same time I know that in my own case I gained a lot by studying the characters of the chiefs under whom I served from time to time. Lord Wolseley, for instance, said: "Use your common sense rather than book instructions." — Robert Baden-Powell

The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life, so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbours. — Robert Baden-Powell

To the man who reads 'Scouting for Boys' superficially, there is a disappointing lack of religion in the book. But to him who tries it in practice, the basic religion underlying it soon becomes apparent. — Robert Baden-Powell

Happiness is not mere pleasure not the outcome of wealth. It is the result of active work rather than passive enjoyment of pleasure. — Robert Baden-Powell

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I'll show you a poorly uniformed leader. — Robert Baden-Powell

You may be rich, but there is one thing you can't afford - that is, if you are a good sort - you can't afford to spend money on your own luxuries while there are people around you wanting the necessaries of life. — Robert Baden-Powell

Be Prepared in Mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.

Be Prepared in Body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it. — Robert Baden-Powell

It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative matter. — Robert Baden-Powell

The most successful detectives owe their success to noticing small signs. Scouts are natural detectives and never let the smallest detail escape them. These small things are called by Scouts 'Sign.' — Robert Baden-Powell

A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room. — Robert Baden-Powell

In assisting his 'neighbour' every day to the best of his ability, and keeping truth, honesty, and kindness perpetually before him, the Boy Scout, with as little formality as possible, is pleasing God. — Robert Baden-Powell

Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man. — Robert Baden-Powell

If you make yourself indispensable to your employer, he is not going to part with you in a hurry no matter what it costs him. — Robert Baden-Powell

Girls should be brought up to be comrades and helpers, not to be dolls. They should take a real and not a visionary share in the welfare of the nation. — Robert Baden-Powell

"Be Prepared." "Be prepared for what?" "Why, for any old thing." — Robert Baden-Powell

The Scoutmaster teaches boys to play the game by doing so himself. — Robert Baden-Powell

We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others ... Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognises justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with ... the other nations of the world. — Robert Baden-Powell

Look wide, and even when you think you are looking wide - look wider still. — Robert Baden-Powell

The great thing that strikes you on looking back is how quickly you have come-how very brief is the span of life on this earth. The warning that one would give, therefore, is that it is well not to fritter it away on things that don't count in the end; nor on the other hand is it good to take life too seriously as some seem to do. Make it a happy life while you have it. That is where success is possible to every man. — Robert Baden-Powell

After forming a cadet corps of boys for assisting as noncombatants during a military campaign in 1900: We then made the discovery that boys, when trusted and relied on, were just as capable and reliable as men. — Robert Baden-Powell

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment. — Robert Baden-Powell

The uniform makes for brotherhood, since when universally adopted it covers up all differences of class and country. — Robert Baden-Powell

If a man cannot make his point to keen boys in ten minutes, he ought to be shot! — Robert Baden-Powell

One of the powerful temptations is that of the cinema palace. The cinema has undoubtedly an enormous attraction for boys, and people are constantly cudgelling their brains how to stop it. But it is one of those things which would be very difficult to stop even if it were altogether desirable. — Robert Baden-Powell

Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. — Robert Baden-Powell

The patrol system leads each boy to see that he has some individual responsibility for the good of his patrol. — Robert Baden-Powell

An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual. — Robert Baden-Powell

There are thousands of boys being wasted daily to our country through being left to become characterless, and, therefore, useless wasters, a misery to themselves and an eyesore and a danger to the nation. They could be saved if only the right surroundings or environment were given to them at the receptive time of their lives. — Robert Baden-Powell

All Scouts should know about St. George. St. George is the Patron Saint of England; he is also the Patron Saint of cavalry in all countries, and therefore Patron Saint of Scouts. — Robert Baden-Powell

One aim of the Boy Scouts scheme is to revive amongst us, if possible, some of the rules of the knights of old. — Robert Baden-Powell

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience. — Robert Baden-Powell

If you are in the country, you should notice landmarks - that is, objects which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost, such as distant hills, church towers, and nearer objects, such as peculiar buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc. — Robert Baden-Powell

In a difficult situation one never-failing guide is to ask yourself: "What would Christ have done?" Then do it-as nearly as you can. — Robert Baden-Powell

One thing Britons have always been celebrated for, and that is being able to stick it out in a tight place. — Robert Baden-Powell

Sunday is a day of rest. Loafing is not rest. — Robert Baden-Powell

Yet one more item is needed to complete success, and that is the rendering of service to others in the community. Without this the mere satisfaction of selfish desire does not reach the top notch. — Robert Baden-Powell

Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity. — Robert Baden-Powell

We aim for the practice of Christianity in their everyday life and dealings, and not merely the profession of its theology on Sundays. — Robert Baden-Powell

One of the first duties of a Scout is obedience to authority. He must obey his orders in the first place and put his own amusement or desires in the second. — Robert Baden-Powell

A good boxing competition gives one the sight of fine men in their prime, trained to the ounce, showing the highest skill, pluck and endurance in carrying out their attack and defence under strict rules of fair play and good temper. — Robert Baden-Powell

Make good scouts of yourselves, become good rifle shots so that if it becomes necessary that you defend your families and your country that you can do it. — Robert Baden-Powell

The secret of sound education is to get each pupil to learn for himself, instead of instructing him by driving knowledge into him on a stereotyped system. — Robert Baden-Powell

Scoutcraft is a means through which the veriest hooligan can be brought to higher thought and to the elements of faith in God; and, coupled with the Scout's obligation to do a good turn every day, it gives the base of Duty to God and to Neighbour on which the parent or pastor can build with greater ease the form of belief that is desired. — Robert Baden-Powell

Loyalty is a feature in a boy's character that inspires boundless hope. — Robert Baden-Powell

The secret of getting
successful work out of your trained men lies in one nutshell - in
the clearness of the instructions they receive. — Robert Baden-Powell

The study of Nature brings into a harmonious whole the questions of the Infinite, the Historic, and the Microscopic as part of the Great Creator's work. — Robert Baden-Powell

No man is much good unless he believes in God and obeys His laws. — Robert Baden-Powell

Living indoors without fresh air quickly poisons the blood and makes people feel tired and seedy when they don't know why. For myself, I sleep out of doors in winter as well as summer. I only feel tired or seedy when I have been indoors a lot. I only catch cold when I sleep in a room. — Robert Baden-Powell

It is often useful, if an enemy happens to see you, to pretend that you have not seen him. Or it may sometimes be useful to pretend that you have other men with you. I did this once in the Boer War when, having crept up a donga to look at a Boer fort, I was seen by the enemy, and they came out to capture me. — Robert Baden-Powell

Varied are the ideas of what constitutes "success," e.g. money, position, power, achievement, honours, and the like. But these are not open to every man-nor do they bring what is real success, namely, happiness. — Robert Baden-Powell

"Softly, softly, catchee monkey," is the West African rendering of a very valuable precept. An awful lot of men fail through lack of patient persistence. — Robert Baden-Powell

It is risky to order a boy not to do something; it immediately opens to him the adventure of doing it. — Robert Baden-Powell

My belief is that we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also in being able to help other people instead of overreaching them and, through it all, to enjoy life - that is, to be happy. — Robert Baden-Powell

A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim. — Robert Baden-Powell

Leave it better than you found it. — Robert Baden-Powell

Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys. — Robert Baden-Powell

The best workers, like the happiest livers, look upon their work as a kind of game: the harder they play the more enjoyable it becomes. — Robert Baden-Powell

I have known lots of millionaires who were not happy men; they had not got all they wanted and therefore had failed to find success in life. A Singalese proverb says: "He who is happy is rich, but it does not follow that he who is rich is happy." The really rich man is the man who has fewest wants. — Robert Baden-Powell

Possibly the best suggestion in condensed form, as to how to live, was given by my old Headmaster, Dr. Haig Brown, in 1904, when he wrote his Recipe for Old Age. A diet moderate and spare, Freedom from base financial care, Abundant work and little leisure, A love of duty more than pleasure, An even and contented mind In charity with all mankind, Some thoughts too sacred for display In the broad light of common day, A peaceful home, a loving wife, Children, who are a crown of life; These lengthen out the years of man Beyond the Psalmist's narrow span. — Robert Baden-Powell

O God, help me to win, but in thy wisdom if thou willest me not to win, then O God, make me a good loser. — Robert Baden-Powell

Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature of the individual. — Robert Baden-Powell

No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way. — Robert Baden-Powell

A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances. — Robert Baden-Powell

A thing that many young fellows don't seem to realism at first is that success depends on oneself and not on a kindly fate, nor on the interest of powerful friends. — Robert Baden-Powell

Football in itself is a grand game for developing a lad physically and also morally, for he learns to play with good temper and unselfishness, to play in his place and 'play the game,' and these are the best of training for any game of life. — Robert Baden-Powell

Commemorative stone in the floor of the Chapel of St. George in Westminster Abbey, London, dedicated in 1947: TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT Baden-Powell CHIEF SCOUT OF THE WORLD 1857-1941 Upon one side of the stone was the badge of the Boy Scouts, the arrow-head to point the true way as it had pointed the way for sailors and navigators from the time of the earliest maps; and on the other the badge of the Girl Guides-the three-leafed clover. — Robert Baden-Powell

Of course, animals have to be killed for food or to prevent their doing injury to others or to property. But such killing is too often carried out without regard to the pain inflicted. — Robert Baden-Powell