Inspirational Quotes by Elbert Hubbard (American Writer)

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.
—Elbert Hubbard

Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of a field in hope that the cow will back up to them
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Welfare

The brain is a commodity used to fertilize ideas.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Ideas

The great Big Black Things that have loomed against the horizon of my life, threatening to devour me, simply loomed and nothing more. The things that have really made me miss my train have always been sweet, soft, pretty, pleasant things of which I was not in the least afraid.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Fear

The man who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Silence, Understanding

Winning isn’t everything. Wanting to is.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Winning, Passion, Enthusiasm, Motivation

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

Give us a religion that will help us to live—we can die without assistance.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Religion

Simply be filled with the thought of good, and it will radiate—you do not have to bother about it, any more than you need trouble about your digestion.
—Elbert Hubbard

Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them; power flows to the man who knows how.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Power

Never explain—your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyhow.
—Elbert Hubbard

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

A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Memory

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
Topics: Enthusiasm

The goal of evolution is self – conquest
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Evolution

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Positive Attitudes, Attitude, Mind, War, Health, Optimism

You will generally find that the person who doesn’t give a continental what the newspapers say about ‘im either one way or the other subscribes to a press clipping bureau anyway.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Journalism

Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do and then, as the days go gliding by you will find yourself unconsciously seizing the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desire. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual you so admire.
—Elbert Hubbard

The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Happiness

I believe in freedom—social, economical, domestic, political, mental and spiritual.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Freedom

All noise is waste. So cultivate quietness in your speech, in your thoughts, in your emotions. Speak habitually low. Wait for attention and then you low words will be charged with dynamite.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Communication, Silence

Die, v.: To stop sinning suddenly.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Death, Dying

Play needs direction as well as work.
—Elbert Hubbard

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding that limit.
—Elbert Hubbard

Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. 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. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Perseverance, Mistakes, Genius, Failures, Endurance, Resolve, Failure, Success, Persistence

The man who has no more problems to solve is out of the game.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Problem-solving, Problems

An imitator is a man who succeeds in being an imitation.
—Elbert Hubbard

The stupidity of one brain multiplied by twelve.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Justice

Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Character, Attitude

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
—Elbert Hubbard

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