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.”

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”

“I 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.”

“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.”

“Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones to genius.”

“Life is unrest, and its passage at best a zigzag course, that only straightens to a direct line when viewed across the years.”

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

“Heaven: the Coney Island of the Christian imagination.”

“When you grow suspicious of a person and begin a system of espionage upon him, your punishment will be that you will find your suspicions true.”

“Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who got out of all the work they could during the week.”

“Opportunities for education should be within the reach of every individual, not for the lucky few.”

“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 the goal.”

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

“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!”

“We work to become, not to acquire.”

“Responsibility is the price of freedom.”

“Men are only as great as they are kind.”

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

“Nothing is permanent but change.”

“There is more sophistication and less sense in New York than anywhere else on the globe.”

“I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.”

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

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

“Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do”

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.”

“It's a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.”

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

“The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.”

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

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

“Art is not a thing; it is a way. ”

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

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

“Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.”

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

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

“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ”

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

“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? ”

“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.”

“Laughter is higher than all pain.”

“Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.”

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

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

“If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.”

“I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.”

“Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

“I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love...I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.”

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”