Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Elbert Hubbard Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Jun 19, 1856
  • Died: May 7, 1915

Elbert Green Hubbard was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he met early success as a traveling salesman with the Larkin Soap Company. Today Hubbard is mostly known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, an influential exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Among his many publications were the nine-volume work Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great and the short story A Message to Garcia. He and his second wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS Lusitania, which was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915.

Life is just one damned thing after another.

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

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

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

The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary great minds in the commonplace.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you'll make one.

The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

If you suffer, thank God! It is a sure sign that you are alive.

We work to become, not to acquire.

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.

Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

Never get married in college it's hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you've already made one mistake.

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

Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed - there's so little competition.

The love we give away is the only love we keep.

Die, v.: To stop sinning suddenly.

Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.

This will never be a civilized country until we spend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Fear clogs faith liberates.

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

Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

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.

Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Science is the effective way of doing things. Business is the economic way of doing things.

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.

Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.

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

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

Live truth instead of professing it.

God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom for himself.

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.

Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.

Art is not a thing it is a way.

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

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.

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

Polygamy: An endeavour to get more out of life than there is in it.

Men are only as great as they are kind.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.

Life in abundance comes only through great love.

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

The thing we fear we bring to pass.

The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence.

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

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

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

The church saves sinners, but science seeks to stop their manufacture.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

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

Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant - the digitalis of failure.

The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better work.

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

Love, we say, is life but love without hope and faith is agonizing death.