Bad men excuse their faults; good men will leave them.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; or an excuse is a lie guarded.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
A lie is an excuse guarded.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Justifying a fault doubles it.
—French Proverb
We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Don’t make excuses, make good.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Bad excuses are worse than none.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
No one ever excused his way to success.
—Dave Del Dotto American Real Estate Investor
The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Don’t make excuses—make good.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Pessimism is an excuse for not trying and a guarantee to a personal failure.
—Bill Clinton (b.1946) American Head of State, Lawyer, Public Speaker
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
—Kimberly Johnson (b.1971) American Poet, Historian, Academic
Several excuses are always less convincing than one.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Destiny: A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they make a good excuse.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter but do not admit the excuses except in courtesy, as when a man treads on your toes and begs your pardon—the pardon is granted, but the joint aches, especially if there is a corn upon it.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse.
—Unknown
When you get right down to it, one of the most important tasks of a leader is to eliminate his people’s excuse for failure.
—Robert C. Townsend (1920–98) American Businessman
We have more ability than will power, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
It’s a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people don’t want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
—P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) British Novelist, Short-story Writer, Playwright
Friendship isn’t a big thing—it’s a million little things.
—Anonymous
I attribute my success to this:I never gave or took an excuse.
—Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English Nurse
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself—and be lenient to everybody else.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer