Elbert Hubbard was an American writer and publisher, best known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York. A prolific writer and editor, his work influenced thinking about business and self-development long after his death in 1915 at age 58. Here are Some of the most famous Elbert Hubbard Quotes.
His most enduring works are his collections of essays published under the series titles Little Journeys (1985) and A Message to Garcia (1899). Hubbard’s message to Garcia sparked a historic debate on whether the true value of an idea or action must be measured by its results, or if it can also be judged by intent alone.
77 Elbert Hubbard Quotes
- “He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.”
2. “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
3. “Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.”
4. “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.”
5. “Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.”
6. “Don’t take life seriously, you’ll never get out of it alive.”
7. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
8. “The love we give away is the only love we keep.”
9. “The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.”
10. “A goal without a plan is a dream.”
Inspirational Elbert Hubbard Quotes
11. “If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.”
12. “Nothing is permanent but change.”
13. “The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.”
14. “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.”
15. “No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.”
16. “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”
17. “The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.”
18. “Men are punished by their sins, not for them.”
19. “To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
20. “The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.”
21. “Live truth instead of professing it.”
22. “Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts.”
23. “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”
24. We are punished by our sins, not for them.”
25. “There is more sophistication and less sense in New York than anywhere else on the globe.”
26. “I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.”
27. “Who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words”
28. “Never explain―your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”
29. “We work to become, not to acquire.”
30. “There is no failure except in no longer trying.”
Famous Elbert Hubbard Quotes
31. “A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run.”
32. “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ”
33. “Politicians regard the public as a cow to be milked”
34. “Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street. ”
35. “The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner.”
36. “A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience.”
37. “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.”
38. “A school should not be a preparation for life. A school should be life.”
39. “It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.”
40. “Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.”
Elbert Hubbard Quotes About Life
41. “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.”
42. “Laughter is higher than all pain.”
43. “Friendship, like credit, is highest when it is not used.”
44. “I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.”
45. “Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.”
46. “We make our money out of our friends. Our enemies will not do business with us.”
47. “We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.”
48. “If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”
49. “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.”
50. “The graveyards are full of people the world could not do without.”
Elbert Hubbard Best Quotes
51. “True life lies in laughter, love and work.”
52. “Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones to genius.”
53. “It’s a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.”
54. “We will not be dictated to by men with less intelligence, energy, initiative and ambition than we ourselves possess. ”
55. “The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.”
56. “Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them.”
57. “Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of the field in hope that the cow will back up to them.”
58. “Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.”
59. “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.”
60. “A man who marries a woman to educate her falls into the same fallacy as the woman who marries a man to reform him.”
Motivational Elbert Hubbard Quotes
61. “Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.”
62. “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? ”
63. “Opportunities for education should be within the reach of every individual, not for the lucky few.”
64. “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.”
65. “Responsibility is the price of freedom.”
66. “The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is to love, laugh, and work.”
67. “A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.”
68. “The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.”
69. “Everything comes too late for those who only wait.”
More Elbert Hubbard Quotes
70. “This will never be a civilized country until we expend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.”
71. “The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.”
72. “The stronger a man is, the more gentle he can afford to be”
73. “There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.”
74. “Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who got out of all the work they could during the week.”
75. “Down in their hearts, wise men know this truth: the only way to help yourself is to help others.”
76. “Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.”
77. “Be 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.”